Sweetheart
by paws-bells
Summary: GaaSaku Canon-verse AU. Non-compliant with Fourth Shinobi War Arc. Chi ama mi, ama il mio cane. For Gaara and Sakura, that particular Italian proverb had never been more apt.
1. Chapter 1

**Title:** Sweetheart

**Author: **paws_bells

**Beta-ed by: **MelissaRose85

**Characters/Pairing: **Haruno Sakura and Sabaku no Gaara

**Type:** Continuous (InComplete)

**Genre:** Romance/Humor

**Word Count:** 5858

**Rating: **T (Contains content not suitable for children)

**Disclaimer:** Naruto belongs to Kishimoto-san.

**Summary: **REPOST. Canon-verse AU. Non-compliant with Fourth Shinobi War arc. Chi ama me, ama il mio cane. For Gaara and Sakura, that particular Italian proverb had never been more apt.

**Previous Summary:** Love was a bitch sometimes, though for Gaara and Sakura, it certainly started out that way. Literally.

**Chapter Last Revised on:** 23/03/13

* * *

**Chapter 1**

* * *

_Well, she certainly looks…surprised._

Kakashi eyed his one and only female student and promptly presented her with his trademark close-eyed/inverted-u smile that was so irritatingly infamous among all the nin in Konoha.

After all, everyone who was well acquainted with the outrageously tardy Jounin also knew that he was usually up to no good whenever that gleeful smile appeared on that all-too smug face of his—not that anyone could see much of said face in the first place, of course.

Haruno Sakura was, obviously, not amused.

It took great effort for the visibly twitching twenty-year old to turn her eyes from the pitiful scrap of…_living thing_ that her Genin sensei had just oh-so nonchalantly deposited in the middle of her consultation room so as to glare at said culprit himself. Narrowing her eyes at the tall Jounin, the beautiful pink-haired medic-nin promptly jabbed a finger in the direction of the examining table that she herself had been gaping at seconds earlier.

"What the _hell_ is _that_?!"

It was a close call, but Kakashi's smile did not falter at the kunoichi's ferocious demand. Geez, and he had never taught his cute little student to glare like that too; it must be thanks to the Fifth's influence that Sakura could wield a glare just as well as she could handle a scalpel.

Still, the way Sakura was eyeballing him looked quite dangerous and Kakashi quickly put on an innocent, sheepish look on his face. To his disappointment, Sakura hardly appeared impressed. In fact, she started to put her hands on her hips in a clearly intimidating posture, never mind the fact that her sensei was nearly a head and a half taller than her ridiculously petite form. Still, Kakashi secretly broke out in a cold sweat at the very scary 'Inner Sakura' look on his ex-student's face.

Ah, kids these days…no respect for their elders.

"Ahahaha…why, Sakura-chan!" Sakura's eyelid twitched at the '-chan'. "That's a puppy, of course."

The kunoichi's eyebrow lifted, clearly in disbelief, as she turned to look carefully at the quivering…_thing_ once more. It truly was one of the ugliest living beings that she had ever seen, and weren't puppies supposed to look cute and cuddly? Honest to god, Sakura personally thought that it looked more like a scrawny grey rat than a canine. It didn't even remotely resemble a dog, for crying out loud.

For one thing, the little grey puppy was utterly devoid of fur except for a few choice tufts of white on the top of its head and on the tip of its long, rodent-like tail. The little dog was ridiculously skinny, with long trembling stick-like legs and its watery eyes bulged out from its small head in a most exaggerated manner that made it look perpetually shocked. Combining that with the fact that its long, thin snout appeared slightly squashed in, the poor pup looked like it was grinning maniacally while sporting a permanently surprised look on its face.

Altogether it was a pretty comical sight; Sakura was hardly tickled. The fact that it was shaking badly on the table had her frowning instead; the poor thing was obviously terrified. Ugly or not, Sakura's heart immediately softened at the pitiful sight and before she knew it, the kunoichi was heading over to the examining table, fingers extended to let the little thing sniff her. Formerly annoyed emerald orbs gentled when it looked hesitantly at her with those large, wet eyes, and Sakura felt her annoyance deflate when it timidly gave her fingers a small lick.

It wasn't the puppy's fault, after all, that it had come in with such an idiotic man.

"Whose dog is this, Kakashi-sensei?"

Said Jounin carefully eyed the way his former student was interacting with the puppy and was inwardly pleased with what he saw. Sakura wasn't totally repulsed by the animal's…odd appearance, and the mildly interested look in her eyes gave him great hope. He had made the right decision in stopping by the hospital; Sakura had always been impossibly softhearted and this might just work out for the best in the end. No, this _had_ better work; Sakura was his _last_ chance. His entire plan hinged on the younger kunoichi now, but Kakashi was confident that his persuasion skills would win out in the end. No one could withstand his charm, no one!

Slipping a rueful look on his face, Kakashi scratched his head and promptly gave Sakura his best boyish smile. In immediate response, the pink-haired female narrowed her eyes. A clear warning.

Okay, maybe he should just dispense away with that 'charm.' Sakura knew him too well for it to work anyway. "Well…" Kakashi quickly decided to stop pushing his luck and to speak now before Sakura finally lost her patience and kick both him and the dog out. "Technically, _she_ belongs to Pak-kun."

It didn't take long for the sentence to click, and when it did, the kunoichi could only stare at him, who still had the gall to stand there looking somewhat sheepish.

"…Pak-kun?" Sakura repeated with surprised disbelief. "This puppy is Pak-kun's offspring?" Her eyes immediately flew back to the little dog in an effort to look for any similarities between it and the talkative pug who was one of Kakashi's best nin-ken. Now that Kakashi mentioned the connection, it was suddenly not very hard for her to see the link between sire and pup. Surely, only Pak-kun could produce an offspring who was even more…aesthetically-challenged than himself.

The look on Sakura's face must have been one of incomprehension mixed with quite a lot of bewilderment, for Kakashi started to explain how it all came to happen.

"Ahahaha…you see, Pak-kun had a little accident."

Sakura really didn't want to know, but she found herself staring blankly at her ex-teacher. "An accident," she repeated with a really disturbed look on her face. God, she didn't know till now that Pak-kun actually had a sex life, and she honestly would have been better off never knowing. Maybe she could get the silver-haired Jounin, also known as her Genin sensei, to use the Sharingan to obliterate her memory later on.

Oblivious to his student's discomfort, Kakashi nodded, still smiling his vague little smile. "There was this sassy little Chinese Crested down at the bar across the ANBU headquarters and-"

"And I think that's all I need to know about it," Sakura blurted out quickly before he could elaborate further. "Really, there is no need at all to elaborate about such specifics."

"Aa, of course." Kakashi was happy to oblige. The older Jounin quickly figured that it would be better to get into Sakura's good graces for now.

"So what brings you here today, sensei?" Sakura asked, eager to change the topic to a less…disconcerting one. "And don't tell me that you are here willingly for a checkup because all of us at the hospital know how squirrelly you are whenever it comes to that."

Once again, Kakashi gave her his 'inverted-u' smile.

"You are right on the dot as usual, Sakura-chan," the man replied. "I am here for a more…personal request, actually."

At that, Sakura's brow rose slightly.

"A personal request," she echoed.

At the same time, the medic-nin absently shifted her attention to the little puppy that was now feeling a little braver and was shyly butting its head against her hand in an unspoken request to be petted. Sakura obligingly ran her fingers through the small white tuft of surprisingly soft hair on its head and watched as it slowly wagged its long, odd-looking tail awkwardly. Reluctantly charmed by the pup's behavior, Sakura could not resist scratching the back of its overly large, bat-like ears. Once again, the kunoichi was slightly surprised by the silky texture of the animal's skin and could not help but let out a small smile when it emitted a small appreciative whine as its tail shook a little harder.

Sakura looked up from the endearing antics of the little dog just in time to catch Kakashi's nod.

"I need your help, Sakura."

The suddenly serious tone of her former sensei had her frowning a little. The older Jounin seldom asked of anything from her and now that he had, Sakura knew that she could not turn him away—at least not until she heard him out first. A little curious, the kunoichi straightened up and gave Kakashi her full attention.

"What can I do for you, sensei?" Sakura asked sincerely, all previous hints of irritation gone.

She always was a tad gullible like that.

Inner Kakashi laughed diabolically. He just knew that his incredibly soft-hearted student would come through for him.

_Hook, line and sinker._

* * *

And that was how Kakashi managed to trick her into keeping Sweetheart, also known as Pak-kun's illicit lovechild with the sassy little Chinese Crested down at the bar from the ANBU HQ. Poor Sakura never really stood a chance, and didn't even know what hit her until her dastardly sensei escaped the hospital, leaving the little puppy in her care.

To make the long story short, Kakashi had fed the somewhat bewildered Sakura some sob story about how no one wanted the little puppy, and to add insult to injury, had even made fun of the little nin-ken's…unusual appearance. It didn't take long for the silver-haired Jounin to explain that his pack of nin-dogs was currently filled to capacity and, unlike its overly outspoken sire, little Sweetheart was painfully shy and therefore kept getting bullied by the other dogs. Before Sakura could make heads or tails of what Kakashi was really trying to say, the tall Jounin was already assuring her of how low maintenance owning a small dog would be and how dogs were man's best friends and all.

Open-mouthed and all but gaping in confusion, the kunoichi didn't even have the time to form a question on what the hell was going on when Kakashi was all but ready to leave. Hand on the doorknob signaling his impending freedom, the irritating silver-haired Jounin had the gall to smile charmingly at her before hitting her with a "By the way, she only responds to 'Sweetheart.'" before hightailing out of the hospital like a bat from hell and foisting upon her the responsibility of caring for one very…homely looking canine.

Stunned by how quickly she had been hoodwinked, it actually took Sakura five minutes or so before she finally understood her sensei's underhanded plan; he had overwhelmed her with so many redundant facts and information that her head still spun from it all. Not once had he given her the chance to speak, nor had he allowed her the opportunity to think through the repercussions of his words and before she knew it, she was the proud owner of Pak-kun's pup.

A growing frown gathered on Sakura's brow as the full extent of what her rascally sensei had coerced her into finally hit her.

Just what on earth was she going to do with a puppy?! She wasn't even sure if her landlord allowed pets in the apartment, and worse still, she had absolutely no clue at all how to rear a puppy! And that cheap, dastardly baka who was her former sensei hadn't even had the decency to buy some pet food and accessories to tide her through until she knew what she was doing!

Beginning to get intensely irritated, Sakura growled softly with growing aggravation. She should have known that Kakashi was up to no good when he appeared in her consultation room for no reason whatsoever! If she wasn't so sure that the silver-haired Jounin had probably shunshin'd himself to god knew where already, she would have chased after him with the puppy in tow. Life as a head medic-nin was busy enough as it was; when would she find the time to rear a little dog?

As if it was aware of Sakura's frustration, the little puppy in question gave a small whine and a cautious wag of its tail as its bulging eyes stared adoringly at this human female who had treated her so gently.

Sakura stared back.

_Don't melt, don't melt, don't melt…_

_Aw…_

Even though the little nin-ken wasn't exactly cute, Sakura was still utterly defenseless against its worshipful gaze. The kunoichi's agitation faded away quickly and bright emerald orbs softened. Sakura lifted her fingers again and lightly scratched one of those enormous bat-like ears, much to the puppy's utter delight.

"Sweetheart, huh?" Sakura mused resignedly at the small wriggling bundle of warm canine. "What am I going to do with you?"

* * *

It really had been Sakura's intention to return the puppy to Kakashi; however, circumstances just would not allow her to do so. After her shift ended, the pink-haired female had awkwardly gathered the little dog in her arms as she prepared to leave the hospital for the day.

Sweetheart was a real sweetheart, of course.

The shy puppy had allowed Sakura to pick it up with very little fuss and had docilely rested in the kunoichi's gentle arms. The little nin-ken was very small, smaller than even Akamaru had been when he was a puppy and only slightly larger than a Chihuahua. As such, Sakura saw no harm in unzipping her jacket and slipping her in to nestle amongst the warm clothing. The kunoichi zipped her jacket carefully shut again once the pup was comfortable and would not slip, and she made sure that only its head was visible. It was already mid-autumn in Konoha; the weather was getting nippy and Sweetheart had practically no fur on her body to keep her warm, after all.

The kunoichi received more than her share of strange/amused looks as she made her way out of the hospital. Some of her colleagues even did a double take when they saw the uncomely looking nin-ken popping out from Sakura's coat. Sakura could only smile weakly at the curious gazes as she hurried quickly out of her workplace, inwardly cursing Kakashi sensei yet again as she did so.

"Alright, little puppy," Sakura announced determinedly to the small dog when they finally exited the hospital. "Now, let's go find that irresponsible owner of yours."

As if she understood what Sakura was saying, Sweetheart gave a distressed little whine. It didn't want to return to the odd-looking, one-eyed human when its new owner smelled so much nicer and had the gentlest eyes it had ever seen. Not to mention she also gave the best ear rubs that it had ever received and, for once, it didn't have to fight other dogs for her attention. Large bat-like ears drooped slightly at the thought that she was going to be given back.

Utterly mistaking Sweetheart's unhappy little cry for something else, Sakura absentmindedly stroked the little canine's bony head as she set out swiftly for her sensei's house, a somewhat peculiar look of irritation mixed with resignation splayed on her pretty face.

Emerald orbs narrowed with aggravated resolve as the kunoichi remembered again how she had been so easily tricked earlier on.

Ooh, Kakashi was so going to be in for an earful when she got to him!

* * *

At the other end of the village, the Sabaku no Gaara was not having a good day.

Although it was hardly obvious, the Fifth Kazekage was just an inch short of losing that infamous temper of his and it wasn't helping that his advisors were currently engaged in a screaming match with Konoha's village council. The fact that the Leaf's counsels were just as enthusiastically participating in this en mass shouting session was not helping matters at all.

It had been four days since the Suna delegation had arrived in Konoha to discuss the details pertaining to the peacekeeping treaty between the two villages, and they were still nitpicking on the third clause of the seven feet long contract. The once formal and sedate conference room was now reduced to a messy political battleground as paperwork and official documents were being waved about and argued over, as each side stubbornly refused to give even an inch. At this rate, Gaara decided that his council would probably be staying in Konoha for a much longer period than they had originally intended.

The resulting cacophony as everyone started to yell above the growing din in order to make themselves heard was almost enough to push him into using his sand to do something drastic—like filling all their mouths with sand just so that they could shut the hell up for once and let him have some peace of mind. The powerful redhead could feel a pounding headache coming up, and judging by the aggravated sigh coming from the one by his side, he could safely assume that his counterpart was also feeling more than a mite irritated.

"Kazekage," the Godaime Hokage's voice was so dry it was a miracle that he heard her over the noise that their combined advisors were emitting. "It seems that this meeting is going to end like the one yesterday—with nothing done at all."

Gaara didn't bother to grace the older blonde with an answer, but then again, Tsunade wasn't expecting one. Sighing yet again, the busty Sannin forcibly tuned out all the noise that the scuffling members of both councils were generating and refocused on the paperwork spread before her instead.

Wordlessly, Gaara slid over a piece of parchment to catch her attention. Tsunade carefully looked over the concise and politically correct sentences that the Kazekage had penned in a perfectly masculine and legible handwriting before shaking her head slightly and adding her own demands to the clause that the redhead was proposing. She slid the piece of paper back to him after she was satisfied with the changes and waited for Gaara's response. Jade eyes roved over the edited document once before lifting up to meet unwavering amber ones. Gaara gave a short nod of acquiescence. The terms that the Hokage had set were agreeable to him.

While the advisors of both villages were furiously arguing over each and every one of the stipulations established by both villages in the peacekeeping treaty, and not making much progress while they were at it, both Kage were quietly ironing out the details amongst themselves, meticulously hammering out the agreement into something both sides could consent peaceably upon. Both village councils had no idea, of course, and they were too busy engaging the opposite side to notice either; which was perfectly fine by both Kage as they were allowed to discuss the treaty in relative peace. Just for that alone, Gaara was willing to tolerate all the ridiculous antics that he was unfortunately hearing—and seeing. It was almost embarrassing to witness the near childish level that even the most respected and dignified elders of his village could stoop to when all else failed. Gaara's only consolation was that Konoha's counsels weren't any better.

"Good." Tsunade muttered under her breath as she nonchalantly transcribed the newest agreed clause onto a longer parchment where eleven other revised conditions resided. "And that's the twelfth. Sixty-three more to go."

Gaara nodded grimly. It was amazing just how much they could accomplish by themselves and all this work had been completed only in the span of today, when the both of them had finally decided that enough was enough and that this en masse pissing contest was getting highly ridiculous, and was a precious waste of time too. Honestly, had Gaara known that things would have degenerated to this, he would have insisted on coming to Konoha all by himself.

"I think we should call it a night."

Tsunade interrupted the redhead's irritated musing.

Satisfied with the headway that they were making, the voluptuous blonde had looked up and out of the window only to realize that Konoha was already bathed in darkness. A glance at the wall clock told the Hokage that it was already late in the evening, and for the life of her, the Sannin could not remember even having had dinner. Sighing loudly yet again, the powerful female decided, not for the first time, that being a Kage really was a horribly thankless job. The fact that Naruto actually could not wait to become the future Rokudaime really spoke a lot about his common sense, or lack thereof.

The work hours were ridiculously long, you were always under public scrutiny, there was no such thing as freedom, and there seemed to be a lot of political bullshit just waiting to be cleaned up, no matter what, not to mention the mountain of paperwork that always seemed to magically appear on her desk every morning. How the heck did Naruto figure that this would be fun?

Tsunade gave a wry mental smirk. She really could not wait until she could hand the hat over to the brat. Then he would have firsthand experience of just how 'fun' Kagehood was.

But at the moment, until the younger blonde was finally groomed for this position, that was, Tsunade was still well and truly stuck with all the obligations and duties that came with her title. Of course, just because she couldn't shirk them didn't mean that she had to always stay completely sober while she took care of her responsibilities.

As if on cue, the powerful blonde started to yearn something fierce for the taste of sake; and she was going to get it tonight too, no matter what Shizune said. Considering her circumstances, Tsunade quickly decided that she had worked quite hard today and definitely deserved to indulge for the evening, especially after surviving this harrowing conference from hell. Oh yes, just thinking of it had the voluptuous blonde glazed-eyed and somewhat distracted.

Once again, Gaara said nothing to Tsunade's earlier comment, and she did not expect a reply either. She didn't have to; as odd as the Kazekage might be sometimes, _no one_ in their right mind would want to remain cooped up in here with a bunch of cantankerous old biddies any longer than necessary. Besides, she was starting to get the vibe that her announcement had come not a minute too early. The powerful leader of Suna may look as bland as always, but there was this slightly pinched expression on his face that told the older kunoichi that Gaara was probably just an inch short of murdering his way out of this meeting.

Might as well adjourn this futile conference now. Knowing herself as well as she did, if Gaara really did start attacking the councilors she would probably be offering him a helping hand while he was at it, which obviously would not do because she would end up with even more paperwork to do, god forbid.

Rising from her seat, Tsunade quickly distracted the thirty or so elders of both villages. By her side, she easily sensed the younger Kazekage getting to his feet as well. "That is enough, Honorable Councilors," the blonde spoke with great authority, her suddenly steely gold eyes so intimidating that the noisy elders were effectively silenced. "It is getting late. We will stop for now and resume this discussion first thing tomorrow morning."

For the first time that day, the advisors of both villages were surprisingly unanimous in their overwhelming protests against the Hokage's announcement. Obviously, they did not want to leave until this last stipulation was settled and agreed upon, and secretly, an inwardly grumbling Tsunade wondered just why on earth they had allowed so many closet masochists to fill the council seats.

This time, Gaara came to the rescue, as he very well should have. He was probably the only sane (relatively) person in this room and backup would be nice right now.

"Little progress has been made on the third clause since early this evening," the young Kazekage stated evenly, his jade eyes calm and authoritative at the same time. "I doubt that a little more time would make any difference."

"But Kazekage-sama-"

"Most of us have not left this room since early this morning and have been diligently working on the details of this treaty." Gaara easily silenced the growing protest before anymore could be said. "A decent meal and a good night's rest would do wonders in improving our efficiency tomorrow morning."

"We are already far behind schedule, Kazekage-sama," another elder commented mulishly. "I still think that we should at least wrap this last condition up first."

That unyielding stance was the last straw.

The powerful and just Kage of Suna Gaara might be, but a patient man he was definitely not. In fact, the infamously short-tempered redhead had never been one to take kindly to sheer stupidity and foolish, unwarranted arrogance and he sure wasn't about to start now. This meeting so far had been nothing but a bloody joke and for the whole of today he had been forced to witness the most appalling display of cheap and low theatrics and unnecessarily loud arguments. He was hardly in the mood to be diplomatic any longer.

Suddenly, it was as if the temperature in the room had dropped drastically. Slowly and deliberately, the Godaime Kazekage flattened his hands against the large slab of a conference table and leaned low, sharp jade eyes narrowed on the obstinate old goat who thought he knew so much better than his own Kage, who had spent the last few hours a lot more productively than he could have ever imagined. The barely tamed killing intent swirling around the powerful Suna-nin was so palpable that it nearly attained physical properties. Immediately, all participants in the conference room, barring a mildly interested Tsunade, that was, started to shift around uncomfortably.

"Honorable Councilor," Gaara purred almost inaudibly, his voice dangerously gilded and low, a contemptuous sneer on his face as his upper lip curled almost imperceptibly with blatant distaste. "Are you questioning my judgment?"

Knowing that he was literally staring Death in the face, the advisor from Suna backed down quickly.

"Of course not, Kazekage-sama," the elder murmured subserviently. "I just cannot help but be concerned-"

"You worry too much, Councilor." This time, Tsunade interrupted before the old man could say anything that could land him in more hot soup with the Kazekage. Judging by the increasingly irritated vibes coming from the one beside her, it really wouldn't take much to make the younger redhead fly off the handle and the blonde really did not want that particular mess on her hands. Having a foreign dignitary killed on her watch would not look good on her resume, never mind that it would be his own Kage doing the murdering.

"Everything is under control. If that's all, let's summarize all that we have accomplished so far before adjourning this conference for tomorrow, shall we?"

There was a reluctant murmur of assent, but no one dared to protest too much thanks to the insanely powerful shinobi glowering quietly beside her.

It was great working with the Kazekage, as usual.

"So," Tsunade began before there could be anymore interruptions, "the third clause states that the free trade agreement between Sand and Leaf would hold for the next five years…"

* * *

The Godaime Hokage was nothing if not extremely efficient in wrapping up official conferences. She was brisk and utterly no-nonsense, quickly and concisely going through everything that the boardroom had discussed so far and allowing absolutely no interruptions while she was at it. The fact that the Kazekage was standing most forbiddingly behind her with his arms firmly crossed against his chest further encouraged the advisors not to interrupt the soon-to-end meeting.

They quietly despaired.

Both Kage didn't seem to give a damn. Tsunade could almost smell her sake already, and Gaara just could not wait to get out of the stuffy room.

The moment Tsunade declared the meeting over for the day, the redheaded Kazekage wasted no time vacating the premises. Without a by your leave, the powerful Suna-nin disappeared in a noiseless flurry of sand, leaving behind a group of councilmen who promptly heaved a collective sigh of relief. The killing intent swirling around the conference room had gotten so heavy that it was getting hard to breathe and Gaara's swift exit had helped alleviate that problem. A lot.

Tsunade rolled her eyes discreetly. If they didn't decide to provoke the lion all the damn time they wouldn't get snapped at in the first place.

It didn't take long for the gathered elders to notice that the other Kage was still in the room. They started to advance towards her.

Tsunade ran for her life.

* * *

Something was following him.

Taking in particular consideration of his current volatile mood, it took him a surprisingly long time before it bothered him enough to stop.

Normally, he wouldn't even blink as he imploded whatever was irritating him with sand. However, the soft pitiful whine drew his attention like nothing could.

The redhead paused in his tracks.

A quiet slither of sand moving out from his gourd and a brief rustle later brought him face to face with the ugliest creature that he had ever met in his life.

It looked like a horribly mutated rat. Was it some type of new animal that the nin in Konoha were totting about as their companion now? Then, it gave out a small yip.

It wasn't a rat. It was a dog.

Despite Gaara's inner incredulity, his face was as expressionless as ever.

The animal, on the other hand, reacted in an exact opposite manner. Rodent-like tail wagging furiously, four paws scrabbling enthusiastically in the air, it was all but wriggling with happiness but how it could be so ecstatic hanging by the scruff of its neck, Gaara really had no idea.

Never mind that it was nearing midnight and there was almost nobody on the streets, but it would look really bad if someone witnessed the Kazekage of Suna killing a defenseless little rat-like dog.

Gaara stared unblinkingly at the small animal being held immobile by his sand. The little puppy stared back with large bulbous black eyes.

The impromptu staring contest began.

There was no way in hell (or Konoha) Gaara was going to lose to this ridiculously pint-sized critter.

* * *

Five minutes later, the redhead was about ready to eat his words.

Damn, but the dog was winning.

A tremendous pressure burned behind intense jade eyes and Gaara was all but glaring at the little animal before him, but to no avail. The puppy was hardly intimidated by the man's dark glower.

To Gaara's increasing aggravation, the little rat-dog parted a small muzzle and started to look as if it was laughing at him.

He growled.

The homely puppy let out a small, happy yip.

Gaara gave up.

Soundly defeated, the redhead promptly commanded his sand to deposit the small animal back to the ground. After all, what would be worse than witnessing the Kazekage killing a small, innocent animal would definitely be to see him engaging in a staring contest with said animal and losing miserably while he was at it.

Gaara was not stupid; he decided to cut his losses and make a tactical retreat.

It was just too bad that the small puppy had taken an instant shine to him and had decided to follow this strange redheaded man until its new owner came to retrieve it.

* * *

Sakura was beside herself with worry.

Why? The pink-haired kunoichi had gone and lost Sweetheart, that's why.

It was all a very tragic accident, of course.

One moment, she was marching resolutely down the streets that would eventually lead her to Kakashi's apartment, the next she was engaged in a brief struggle with the front of her clothes (the onlookers had varying degrees of bewilderment and amusement painted on their faces as they watched the well-known medic grabbing at her own chest, much to the embarrassment of said female) and then Sweetheart had wriggled free and scampered quickly off to kami knows where.

Yup, the homely puppy definitely had nin-ken blood in her veins alright. She disappeared so fast Sakura couldn't even track her, much to the kunoichi's chagrin.

So now Sakura was left to her own devices, wandering around the deserted streets of Konoha at midnight trying to locate one errant puppy. As if that wasn't bad enough, the temperature was dropping like flies and Sakura was starting to worry that little Sweetheart, who was virtually unprotected from the cold, would be freezing somewhere out there.

The kunoichi started to double her efforts in looking for the little dog, never mind the fact that she hadn't even eaten dinner yet and it was almost eleven at night. As much as Sakura liked to grumble that this was all Kakashi's fault, she knew that only she alone was responsible for the pup's wellbeing. Her crafty Genin-sensei would not take Sweetheart back now that he had unloaded the little puppy off on her; therefore, Sweetheart was already as good as hers.

Sakura sighed inwardly. If she had just headed home with the pup in tow this would not have happened. Poor Sweetheart probably knew where she was heading by heart and ran off when she realized Sakura's intention of trying to return her to Kakashi.

By now, Sakura was somewhere near the Hokage Tower. Walking rapidly down the streets, she kept her eyes sharp for any signs of canine, but to no avail. She had quit calling out the puppy's name after the first ten minutes of yelling for 'Sweetheart'; having all sorts of people staring at her as if she was some sort of lunatic was not very high on Sakura's to do list and so she was reduced to whistling randomly and scanning for anything that might look remotely like a hairless nin-dog with tufts of white fur on its head and tip of its tail. Honestly, one would think that such an…arresting-looking animal would have stuck out like a sore thumb, but as it was, Sakura was not having any luck whatsoever locating Sweetheart at all.

The poor, exhausted kunoichi was very close to giving up.

That was before she turned down a street and saw the Godaime Kazekage.

Oh, Sakura was aware that the powerful Sand nin and his large delegation was in town, of course; for an entire week preceding their arrival there was nothing else that shishou had bemoaned anymore miserably about, so Sakura was not completely surprised to see Gaara.

No, it was the fuzzy little thing that was happily trotting along by his side that made her freeze—and stare.

Sweetheart was barely a foot away from the dangerous shinobi and even from that distance, Sakura could see that the plucky little puppy was hardly intimidated by the Kazekage whom it was cheerfully tagging along beside.

If anything, it was looking at the impassive-looking redhead with nothing short of pure adoration in those watery, bulging eyes.

Good grief, her dog was a canine fangirl.

However, Sakura was feeling just too glad at the moment to be properly embarrassed by Sweetheart's lovesick antics. With a thoroughly relieved expression on her face, the kunoichi started towards the little dog in rapid strides.

"Sweetheart!"

* * *

_::tsuzuku::_

* * *

**Questions That I Would Like To Answer Before You Ask:**

As promised, here is the repost of 'Sweetheart.' I will be posting one chapter per week, so the entire fic should be up in a month's time. (Ahem, I will be looking forward to reviews and comments – I'm still quite indignant to have lost all the wonderful reviews and reader love when Sweetheart was taken down last time.)

That aside, it took me a while to think up an alternative title. For the curious, 'chi ama me, ama il mio cane' is an Italian proverb that roughly translates to 'love me, love my dog.'

To all my newer readers who have never read this fic before, Sweetheart was originally written and uploaded to FF Net back in 2008. However, it was taken down early last year during the FF Net Great M-Rated Story Purge, due to a mere technicality that still makes me feel rather exasperated about to this day. Here's to hoping that the admins of FF Net would leave this fic well alone this time!

**xXxXxXxXxX**

Below are all the old chapter notes that I have written back in 2008. Heh. This is such a blast to the past.

**xXxXxXxXxX**

This is my first time writing Kakashi in such detail, so if there is anything OOC about him, my apologies!

**xXxXxXxXxX**

I really have no idea where I got the idea of Pak-kun and his offspring (hah! Conundrum!), and I suppose some of you are either very disturbed or very amused by now. For those who are not aware, Pak-kun belongs to a species of toy dogs also known as the Pug. His other half, at least in this fic, is a Chinese Crested. Not really the best combination to have adorable puppies with, imo.

The Chinese Crested is a breed of toy dogs that are rather well known for their odd-looking appearance. In fact, the Chinese Crested has been voted the World's Ugliest Dog for the last seven years or so, though I personally think that they are a rather adorable breed myself.

For those who have no idea whatsoever the type of dog I had been blathering about for the last minute or so, just google 'Chinese Crested' you will get to see what the dog looks like. It's actually that same dog Cruella DeVil was totting about in the movie, 102 Dalmatians.

**xXxXxXxXxX**

As for the name 'Sweetheart', well, let's just attribute it to Kakashi's decidedly strange sense of humor, eh?

**xXxXxXxXxX**

For those who are worried that this dastardly authoress is off on yet another new fic when she hasn't completed a few others, please don't! 'Sweetheart' is a four chaptered GaaSaku miniseries whose plot refused to leave me alone until I had it written out. It has been completed recently, and is currently being edited by my dear, dear beta, and Shukaku Love will probably be next on the update list.

Until then, I can only ask for all of you readers to be patient!

**xXxXxXxXxX**

Your reviews fuel my passion for writing. So please leave a comment if you like this fic, thank you.

-paws


	2. Chapter 2

**Title:** Sweetheart

**Author: **paws_bells

**Beta-ed by: **MelissaRose85

**Characters/Pairing: **Haruno Sakura and Sabaku no Gaara

**Type:** Continuous (InComplete)

**Genre:** Romance/Humor

**Word Count:** 5783

**Rating: **T (Contains content not suitable for children)

**Disclaimer:** Naruto belongs to Kishimoto-san.

**Summary: **REPOST. Canon-verse AU. Non-compliant with Fourth Shinobi War arc. Chi ama me, ama il mio cane. For Gaara and Sakura, that particular Italian proverb had never been more apt.

**Previous Summary:** Love was a bitch sometimes, though for Gaara and Sakura, it certainly started out that way. Literally.

**Chapter Last Revised on:** 24/03/13

* * *

**Chapter 2**

* * *

The dog was starting to annoy him.

For a tiny thing that was far from fully grown, it had revealed a startlingly intelligent mind as well as inhumanly quick reflexes. It really was a nin-ken alright, equipped with the sharp instincts of its unique species as well as the tracking abilities of its parents, whoever they may be.

The puppy was also completely determined to stick by him, it seemed. The redhead had made a halfhearted attempt to evade the little animal but to no success. Its sensory abilities must be off the charts, for it to be able to track him down so easily, even after Gaara had tried a traditional shunshin only to have the pup relocate him not a couple of minutes after the completion of his brief transportation jutsu.

The dogged little nin-ken was turning out to be as persistent as a burr on a pony, and just as Gaara began to feel a rare sort of aggravated chagrin towards the homely looking dog, help came in a way that had been completely unexpected.

"Sweetheart!"

The pink-haired female who hurried over from around the bend was a rather familiar sight to Gaara. The kunoichi was Tsunade's student, as well as Naruto's teammate. However, the fact that the woman was yelling untruths at the top of her lungs had the Kazekage somewhat wary of her.

Like most eligible bachelors, Gaara had suffered his share of fangirls, and although he didn't quite remember the kunoichi behaving with any sort of amorous intent towards him the last time he was here, he wasn't looking forward to testing his luck. It never held in the presence of women.

Unfortunately though, he didn't have a choice. The medic-nin started to hurry quickly towards him, and as she got nearer, he was surprised to see the worried light in her emerald eyes. Concern radiated from her very being as she drew closer, softening her delicate features and making her appear completely at odds with the powerful, inhumanly strong kunoichi that she truly was. Gaara stared openly at her, clearly not used to being spoken to with such genuine concern from anyone other than his family.

The suspicious redhead had to admit that this wasn't the normal approach for most fangirls. At least she wasn't leaping over, invading his personal space, and attempting to overwhelm him with charming flattery and flirtatious, sometimes downright appalling, displays of immodesty.

It was true that Gaara was a powerful warrior in the battlefield and a fearsome political leader of his village, but as an amused Temari often liked to tease, her poor little brother was utterly hopeless when it came to escaping the wiles of the feminine kind.

Fangirls. You can't kill them. You can't live with them. Dilemma, dilemma.

"Sweetheart!" Sakura called out again as she came to a halt a couple of meters before the Kazekage and her errant puppy. Gaara narrowed his eyes slightly. "Are you alright, my little love?"

Gaara never figured for the normally fierce female (having witnessed firsthand her terrifyingly violent streaks towards her sometimes idiot teammate) to be so ridiculously sappy at heart. The fact that she was using him for her outrageous endearments offended him more than it would on a normal day. However, this day, or rather, night, was far from normal. Any chances of the powerful redhead being in a good mood (rare as that may be most of the time) had been thoroughly ruined this evening, courtesy of the village elders from both Leaf and Sand. The fact that he had an irritating pest problem in the form of a rat-dog was not helping matters, either, and the result of all this aggravation was a ferocious scowl that sat firmly on his face.

_Her little love?_

_Little? _

It was, perhaps, a rather well-known secret that the Kazekage was somewhat sensitive about the matter of his height, or lack thereof.

"Haruno-" the redhead was about to coldly reprimand the Konoha kunoichi for her daring advances when the confusing female strode forwards boldly and bent down suddenly, almost as if she hadn't heard him at all, and in the process earning the startled Kazekage a brief bird's eye view of her cleavage.

Gaara didn't even realize that he was staring until she stood back up a few seconds later, and he quickly noticed that she was carrying the horrendous looking tagalong that he had somehow acquired earlier on.

"Bad puppy!" Sakura scolded the tiny animal softly as she held it up to her eye level. The little ugly Chinese Crested/Pug cross whined softly at her mistress and wagged its tail as endearingly as it could. Against those bulging eyes and damn earnest expression, Sakura found that she did not have the heart to chastise her new puppy. "Don't run away again, you silly little mutt. I have been looking up and down for you the entire night. I almost have half a mind to return you to Kakashi-sensei right now."

Almost as if it knew what its owner was saying, those grey bat ears drooped sadly. Sakura could not resist anymore. "But since you have proven that you may just be a nin-dog after all, I suppose there is no harm in keeping you," she admitted grudgingly.

The furless ears perked up again so quickly that Sakura could not help but burst into laughter at the nin-ken's antics. The pup yipped and wriggled happily in its mistress's arms, tail wagging so fast that it was but a blur, and looking at just how happy the dog was, Sakura could not help but feel that she had made the right choice after all. The couple of hours spent searching for the animal were quickly put aside and forgotten, and as Sakura cuddled the overjoyed pup to her body, she quickly remembered that she was in the presence of the Kazekage.

A chagrined expression crept onto her face, and she looked up from her earlier fussing of Sweetheart to look abashedly at the Kazekage. Said redhead appeared somewhat nonplussed, though for what reason Sakura really wasn't too sure. Had she just made an idiot out of herself by fawning over the little dog in front of the almighty Wind Shadow?

"Ah! Kazekage-sama! I apologize for not greeting you earlier." She looked rather embarrassed. "I sort of didn't see you there."

In response, the kunoichi thought that she saw the man twitch minutely. The action happened so swiftly that Sakura quickly decided that she must have imagined it. After all, she didn't think that she had said anything wrong, did she? "Erm, I'm also sorry that you had to see Sweetheart here and I settle our differences."

Gaara did not know what to say. He only stared at the shorter female, as well as her god awful, bug-eyed dog. A part of him was suddenly very glad that he hadn't had the time to say a caustic word to her. He would have looked like an idiot had he had accused her of being a fangirl only to realize later that she had been only looking for her dog. On the other hand, the other part of him was feeling rather offended and indignant over the fact that this particular kunoichi apparently didn't find him the least bit interesting at all, and therefore hadn't even bothered to pay him the least bit of attention.

Normally, Gaara wouldn't have cared about something as frivolous as whether the kunoichi found him attractive or not, but she had been insulting him in one form or another ever since she appeared to collect her dog, and worse still was the fact that she didn't even realize her slight. Gaara was feeling rather aggravated, and he quickly decided that it was all the fault of this pink-haired kunoichi.

First, she had appeared here and showered so much attention and affection on what was possibly the ugliest creature he had ever seen and ignored him while she was at it (never mind the fact that Gaara never wanted any sort of attention from her at first), and then she had the gall to turn around after that to apologize to him because she didn't 'see him there'. Was she purposely trying to ignite his temper by insinuating that he was so short that she failed to notice him?

"Anou…" Sakura was looking warily at the Kazekage. At the moment, his sand gourd didn't seem to be moving at all, but there was a distinctly irritable expression on his face that didn't really bode well for her. "Are you alright, Kazekage-sama?"

"You named your dog 'Sweetheart.'" His voice was flat.

Sakura stared at him for awhile, wondering just where he was going with that question, and then she nodded hesitantly. "She only answers to 'Sweetheart,' and Kakashi-sensei named her, not me."

The kunoichi hugged the puppy closer, and when it trembled a little, Sakura was reminded of how cold it was now that it was mid autumn, and nearing midnight as well. She should put Sweetheart into her jacket, only her jacket was unzipped and it was hard to hook the lapels together when she was handling one rather wriggly puppy.

Sakura quickly found an alternative plan.

"Kazekage-sama, can you help me carry her?" It really wasn't a question, according to Gaara. How could it be, when she had already shoved the dog to his surprised form before her sentence was even finished? The woman was rather quick in movement as well, and he had no choice but to hold onto the distasteful little animal. The Kazekage made sure to put it at arm's length, though; there was no telling where the dog had been.

Sakura quickly zipped up her jacket and stepped nearer to the powerful redhead. He stiffened slightly at her proximity but, as usual, she didn't seem to notice. Thanking the man vaguely, Sakura relieved him of the little nin-ken and much to his incredulity, started to stuff the pup into her jacket, right between her…rather voluptuous chest.

So that was where the damn dog had been before.

The kunoichi patted the happy puppy and made sure that it was settled snugly before turning her attention back to Gaara.

"Thank you for finding Sweetheart for me." She sounded genuinely grateful. She even bowed to him. For some reason, her stilted politeness irked him. This was the same woman who thought nothing of pounding her blonde teammate into the dust whenever he did something stupid, the same idiot blonde who had easily defeated himself when they were mere Genin. And yet, she was being most painfully formal with him, despite the fact that they had probably known each other (albeit rather distantly) for over seven years already. It was somewhat absurd now that he had the chance to consider it, and he frowned inwardly.

The Kazekage had clearly forgotten to take into consideration the fact that he was a rather intimidating individual and his current bad mood, thanks to the elders, that had hung a literal thunder cloud over his head wasn't helping matters any. Sakura would have been an idiot (preferably blonde and loud) to have ignored the signs that he was exuding.

"I didn't find your dog," he answered shortly. "It found me and refused to leave."

Gaara sounded hostile, belligerent even. Sakura flinched inwardly at the flat tone and looked cautiously at the impassive man. On more normal occasions, her temper would have gotten the best of her and she would have been yelling with the best of them. However, Sakura was oddly content and relieved due to Sweetheart's presence, and she decided to let it slide.

"I just wanted to thank you, that's all," she repeated sincerely. She glanced at him. "I see that you are not having a good day today. Just managed to escape from the council?"

It was apparent that she knew what she was talking about, being the Hokage's student and all.

He nodded once, and she hissed in sympathy. It was already so late!

"Ah, in that case, I probably shouldn't disturb you from returning to the VIP complex to rest," Sakura commented awkwardly. "I suppose it's only going to get worse tomorrow."

He said nothing to that, but they both knew she spoke the truth. As the conference progressed, the nerves of everyone involved were just going to be stretched thinner and thinner. It really was a surprise that no one had been killed during one of these meetings before.

Sakura really wanted to beat a quick retreat with Sweetheart in tow. Honestly, of all the saviors in Konoha, her new puppy just had to pick the one whom she had no idea how to react to. The Kazekage had always been a rather stoic individual, and it was hard to read what he was feeling most of the time. Naruto normally acted around the powerful, reserved redhead like his usual lovable, boisterous self, but Sakura was somewhat self-conscious and besides, she wasn't particularly close to the Suna-nin. At most, they were only casual friends; at worst, they were mutual acquaintances.

Still, Sakura felt that she owed him a favor. In a way, he had found Sweetheart, after all. She paused from her thoughts of escape and looked at him.

"…have you eaten already, Kazekage-sama?" she asked, breaking the silence at last. If she knew the determined elders like she did, it was highly probable that the poor man hadn't even had dinner yet.

"No, I haven't," he spoke after a short pause, no doubt trying to figure out what she was trying to say.

She brightened slightly. Here was a way to repay him!

"Alright, let's get you dinner, then!"

Sweetheart yipped excitedly as well, apparently sensing her owner's newfound cheer.

Gaara merely looked at her.

"It's nearing midnight." He spoke calmly. "I doubt there are any shops that are still open at this time."

Sakura shrugged.

"That's okay," she answered him as she began to walk, beckoning him along as she did so. "We are not eating out anyway."

Before he could ask, she continued. "You are coming to my house; I will cook for you."

Gaara turned his head so quickly towards her that he was surprised that he hadn't sprained himself accidentally.

"…cook?" he asked faintly, almost as if he was hesitant to believe her.

Sakura was in too good a mood to get offended. She gave him an impish smirk that had him staring at her oddly again.

"I try."

Naturally, the redheaded Godaime Kazekage started to look doubtful, and Sakura could not help herself. She burst into laughter.

"My food is edible, trust me," she assured him after she recovered from her laughing spell. "It has even gained Naruto's seal of approval."

"…Naruto's standards aren't very high," he remarked absently, even though he started to walk with her. Gaara wasn't normally a very social individual, but he knew Sakura well enough to know that Naruto would trust her with his life, and furthermore, he really was hungry.

He could use the company, as well as the free food that she had so generously offered.

Sakura didn't know if he was trying to rile her up purposely or was just being his usual charming self, but her smile remained on her face as she patted Sweetheart's silky head. Getting angry simply took too much energy on her part at the moment, and if Naruto could see through Gaara's facade to realize the true him, so could she.

After all, he had found her dog, and the fact that Sweetheart had chosen to stay beside him indicated that he couldn't be all that bad, after all.

* * *

Dinner, or rather, supper, came around one in the morning.

Surprising enough, the kunoichi was quite a decent cook. She was fast, too, and rather efficient as she made use of what she had to prepare a rather adequate meal for the both of them. Sweetheart got her share too, though Sakura made a mental note to get her new nin-ken all the doggy accessories and foodstuff that Kakashi was supposed to pass to her with the little puppy, only her rascally sensei was too cheap to even give them over.

So in the meantime, little Sweetheart got her own little bowl filled with a mouthwatering array of rice and tender, well-prepared meat, and the happy puppy ate her fill beside the kotatsu where her owner and the strangely appealing man were quietly consuming their meals.

Sakura was starting to slightly regret asking the Kazekage over to her small, humble abode. Not that he wasn't the perfect guest; he certainly did not wander about her house touching all her things or fondling her underwear, nor was he hovering creepily over her, watching her every move with bloodthirsty intent. It was just that Sabaku no Gaara was simply not in the habit of speaking much in the first place and definitely never spoke because he had felt the need to 'break the ice.' To one like him, the adage 'Silence is Golden' was probably as true as it could ever get.

It was not the same case for Sakura. She was a social, vibrant being, and mealtimes with friends were definitely to be spent chatting, exchanging gossip, and generally enjoying the pleasant company. Not that Gaara's company was unpleasant…but the kunoichi was starting to feel the awkward silence, not to mention the fact that she was also starting to form the opinion that like most high ranking political figures, the Godaime Kazekage really was a rather boring and stoic individual.

She was hard pressed not to sigh out loud. The kunoichi peered across the table over to him instead, only to see him focused completely on his food. Sitting on the floor between the both of them was Sweetheart, who had by then already devoured her meal and was rather content to stay near her owner, thumping her long rat-like tail against the ground and cocking her head slightly as she gauged the two humans with her round, bulging eyes.

"…was the food to your taste?" Sakura broke the silence at last, and he lifted his impassive jade gaze to meet hers.

He nodded once.

"Yes." He went back to his meal—a simple, traditional fare of tori katsu donburi and miso soup. Silence lapsed between them once more, and exasperated, Sakura did not try to coax Gaara to talk again. It was apparent that the man wasn't in a good mood, or at least, in as good of a mood as he could get, and therefore the kunoichi had no intention of accidentally irritating him any further. Since she was already done with her dinner, she turned her attention to Sweetheart instead.

Unlike the redheaded Kazekage, the puppy welcomed the attention with the entirety of her little body. Her tail wagged so fast that her little behind was shaking left and right, and the way she whined with sheer happiness made Sakura smile. She stretched her hands out towards the little dog, and chuckled softly when the pup leapt towards her lap in a wriggling mass.

"Aren't you a sweetheart, little one?" Sakura cooed unabashedly as she tickled the nin-ken's chin and it placed its forepaws against her stomach to cuddle closer to the pink-haired female. Another smile crept across her face as she continued to play and stroke the little dog. "You are such a sweet little lady, yes you are!"

From his side of the table, Gaara could only observe silently as the fearsome, normally professional kunoichi transformed into a smitten young woman, playing with her dog and cooing nonsense at the ecstatic pup.

It was…fascinating to watch.

That butt-ugly dog was certainly a lot more dangerous than he had originally given it credit for, if it could reduce the woman to such a deplorable state.

Sweetheart was in canine heaven. Her owner's attention was focused solely on her; there was no need to fight other animals for her loving affection. The puppy was so overjoyed that it danced in dizzying circles around her owner's lap, panting and yipping happily as Sakura giggled at her antics.

It was no wonder that some people believed that having pets as companions often helped bring down the stress and pressure of work and life in general. Despite her homely appearance, Sweetheart was really such a sweetheart, her temperament surprisingly well-adjusted once she got over her shyness, and Sakura could not help but warm towards the earnest little dog. As she carefully grabbed the puppy under the forelegs and lifted her up to eyelevel only for the pug/Chinese crested mix to lick her enthusiastically on the nose, Sakura could not help but let loose a small bubble of laughter. It was rather surprising to her how the little dog was so successfully lifting her spirits, considering her exhaustion after putting in an entire day at the hospital.

Sweetheart may even be more precious than she had first thought. The kunoichi happily nuzzled the pup in return, and Sweetheart's long, rat-like tail wagged harder, if possible. At last, Sakura soothed the excited little animal and calmed her down by tucking her back upon her lap, this time coaxing the puppy to rest instead of prance about giddily, before turning her attention back to her guest.

Gaara had been staring at the happy, preoccupied woman as if he really didn't understand her, as if she didn't fit in any of the categories of people that he had painstakingly labeled and identified for the past years, which was rather surprising in itself, since the only other person to have enjoyed the same status had been his loud, blonde friend, not so coincidentally this woman's teammate.

Carefully, the redhead looked away from cheerful emerald eyes and returned his utensils to the table, signaling that he was done eating. Then, he gathered the empty bowls unflappably and started to help to clear the table and transport the utensils to the kitchenette to be washed. Sakura started immediately.

"Hey! You don't have to do that, Kazekage-sama." She lifted Sweetheart and placed her on the floor, and then she, too, got to her knees and reached over to relieve Gaara of his burden, deftly taking away the bowls and chopsticks from his grasp and clearing the table a lot faster than he could. Then, she got to her feet and strode swiftly towards the kitchen to deposit everything onto the sink, before coming back out again just in time to see the powerful, distant redhead stand up as well.

Gaara looked down calmly, almost as if he was unperturbed even as the tiny form of Sweetheart trotted over to sit at his heels. Sakura was caught between chagrin and a huge dose of amusement at the sight of her new pet and the fearsome Godaime Kazekage situated so near to one another. She hurried over at last to gather the small, mischievous puppy into her arms, and waited quietly as Gaara collected his sand gourd from a corner of the living room and started for the door.

She trailed after him, not really sure what to say. He stopped at the threshold of her main door and turned to her. His eyes met hers briefly, and then to her surprise, he acknowledged her with a polite bow. It was more of a tilt of his head, and the slightest movement of his body, but Sakura was taken aback all the same.

"Kazekage-sama, there is no need—!" Sakura was mortified. She had invited him to dinner under the capacity of a friend, nothing else!

He caught on to her embarrassment easily.

"Thank you for dinner," he spoke quietly, his tone startlingly sincere.

Sakura could only nod.

"You are welcome," she managed not to stammer—and blush. There was something in his intent eyes that made her suddenly understand why this man was so well sought after by his legions of fangirls. Then she quickly got over her ridiculous thoughts and smiled at him instead.

"You are a good friend of Naruto's, and therefore you are a friend of mine as well. My home is open to you and if you don't mind my cooking, feel free to stop by whenever meetings end too late, and I will fix something for you, okay, Kazekage-sama?"

She didn't think that he would accept, but she would offer her hospitality all the same. To her surprise, he nodded once.

He stepped over her threshold next, then paused and turned back to look at the pink-haired woman and her horrendous-looking rat-like pet once more.

"My name is Gaara."

Emerald eyes widened slightly, but before she could react, he was gone in a flurry of sand.

* * *

Sakura spent the whole of next morning shopping in downtown Konoha for puppy products.

Sweetheart tagged along as well, of course, and by mid-morning, Sakura was already used to the odd looks that people were giving her darling, unique puppy. After all, what Sweetheart didn't have in appearance, she made up for in spades in terms of personality, and Sakura was hardly ashamed of her new pet, however visually challenged she was.

The proprietor at the pet shop had stared at the homely pup at first with great amusement, though he and Sakura quickly became rather amiable with each other. The kunoichi was a first time pet owner, and therefore there were a lot of things that she did not know and needed help with. The pet shop owner was more than happy to share his experiences as well as give instructions regarding the dos and don'ts of pet care, and in the end, Sakura had left the shop laden with purchases, as well as a newly collared and registered Sweetheart.

Then it was homeward bound, where the pink-haired female proceeded to spend the rest of her morning setting up her purchases and bathing Sweetheart.

The little nin-ken was not averse to water, surprisingly, and so Sakura didn't have much trouble washing and shampooing her. Not that there was much of the little dog to wash, but the kunoichi did as good a job as she could manage, and in the end, after all the ruckus of the morning, she was running around the apartment with an excited puppy following at her heels, frantically preparing for yet another day in the hospital.

"I'm sorry, Sweetheart," Sakura lifted the little dog and set its dejected form on the little puppy cushion that she had bought earlier. Scattered around were several dog toys, a bowl of water, as well as a dog bowl filled with treats. "You can't go to work with me. Be a good puppy and look after the house, alright? I will be back tonight!"

It didn't occur to Sakura as she rushed out of her house how weird it was that she was actually talking to her dog as if it was another human being. It certainly didn't occur to Sakura that her dog actually understood all that she was saying.

Pak-kun's blood ran in the little puppy's veins, after all, and Sweetheart was definitely a lot more intelligent than most nin-ken.

Her puppy ears drooped as she watched Sakura leave the house. She had wanted to stick as close as she could to her owner, having never been pampered thusly before until this morning. But her mistress had to leave for work, and she was all alone again.

Then those bulging, watery eyes started to gleam with puppy-like, almost human mischief.

If she couldn't go with her owner, then she could find someone else to stay with until her owner came for her again.

Sakura had clearly forgotten one thing when she had distractedly locked up the house and puppy-proofed it for good measure.

Her puppy was a nin-dog, which certainly explained her outstanding abilities at evasion and tracking, however untrained she may be. That meant it was going to be ridiculously easy for her to leave and enter places where she was not supposed to be—or in this case, supposed to stay in.

With a small poof of smoke and a tiny yip for good measure, Sakura's apartment was quickly devoid of any signs of life, much to the oblivious kunoichi.

* * *

Pandemonium reigned as usual, in the conference room within the Hokage tower.

As per normal, the Hokage was dearly wishing to be anywhere else but here, whereas her Kage counterpart was staring dispassionately at their arguing aides and elders combined, a blank look upon his face.

For Tsunade, this was absolute hell. And it didn't seem like it was going to end anytime soon, either.

Surprisingly enough, though, the Kazekage appeared bland, mellow even, as he continued to watch with deceptive idleness as the counsel finally decided upon the terms for a particular clause that Tsunade and himself had come to an agreement upon last night. After a few discreet nudges and subtle political directing from both their Kage, the terms agreed upon by both sides were exactly as what their leaders had decided upon the night before.

Then it was back to the battleground, as the elders and advisors started the horridly ridiculous process of posturing for their rights and demands for the next clause, and it was chaos all over again.

Tsunade fought not to twitch with agitation, and chose to close her eyes and pinch the bridge of her nose instead. The thought that she was going to have to last another fortnight before this nightmare could end was nearly unbearable. Damn that blond brat; why the hell did she let Naruto talk her into taking over the mantle of Hokage-hood?

The busty Fifth Generation Fire Shadow was pondering the merits of getting stone faced drunk tonight against the disadvantage of waking up badly hung over the next morning and having to look at the ugly, pinched expressions of her counsel, not to mention hearing their loud, pitched voices, when there was a sudden 'pop' right beside her.

Tsunade flinched in automatic response, and immediately, the ANBU stationed around the two Kage tensed. She turned to her counterpart, wondering, somewhat hopefully, if Gaara had finally reached the end of his patience, and was about to perform a mass extermination on all of them.

Unfortunately for Tsunade, what she expected and what she saw were two completely different matters.

The moment the explosion of chakra-enhanced smoke dissipated away, the Godaime Hokage was treated to a rather bewildering sight.

"…What the hell is that?" the blonde exclaimed, not aware that her disciple had asked the exact same thing when she first laid eyes upon the scruffy looking…_thing_.

Gaara had a rather good idea what the hell 'it' was.

The redhead closed his eyes briefly, and when the slight weight currently rooting about on his head snuffled and panted into his hair, he opened his emotionless eyes, ignored the gaping expression of the Hokage, calmly lifted his hand to the top of his head, and plucked the horrendous looking animal out of his red mane.

Sweetheart continued to pant, her tail wagging at insane speeds as usual, looking as if she was perfectly at ease hanging by the scruff of her neck by Gaara's fingers. Hell, she looked completely overjoyed to be in her current position, much to Tsunade's disbelief.

Gaara stared at the puppy impassively. It was whining slightly and looking at him with huge, earnest eyes. The redhead wondered if the dog was aware of how easily he could have crushed it to bits with his defensive sand, and had Shukaku been still residing within his body, the nin-ken would have been dead a long time ago. In fact, there was nothing stopping him from doing so right now…

Save for the little dog's pink-haired mistress.

Tsunade coughed slightly to regain Gaara's attention.

"A new pet?" the Hokage asked dryly. The animal was seriously one of the ugliest beings she had ever seen, though the fact that it had managed to sneak into the Hokage tower was a rather impressive feat by itself. What _species_ was it?

The Kazekage didn't answer. He did, however, reluctantly lower the excitable dog to his lap with an inward frown. It would make more sense for him to have an ANBU drop the dog off outside, but logic dictated that the animal would somehow find its way back in again if it was really determined to remain here, and worst case scenario, might become genuinely lost again and there was no doubt that its owner was going to be looking up and down the streets for her. Some really lucky person who happened to chance upon the simple-minded animal would find themselves the 'savior of Sweetheart,' which would then naturally earn them a rightful spot by Sakura's dinner table.

The woman was ridiculously trusting, he had noticed. She would probably invite in Orochimaru and friends if they turned up holding on to her aesthetically-challenged, ill-behaved and escape-prone dog.

And so, Gaara decided that he would return her favor of feeding him last night. He would keep her dog safe, until she came running to look for it.

At the moment, the dog in question was trying to peek over the table to peer at what was going on at the other side of the room; it was so noisy here! Scrabbling little paws struggled for available purchase and adequate friction as it tried to stand on its hind legs, on the powerful man whom she had finally found again. She almost succeeded too; a large bat-like ear crested over the surface of the table before a firm hand wrapped itself warningly around the scruff of her almost hairless neck and firmly nudged her back down again. The little animal whined softly in protest, but then emotionless, charcoal-rimmed jade eyes pierced into its pitiful, large, watery gaze.

"None of that."

His toneless command managed to cow the little pup like nothing else could. Its ears drooped pathetically in reaction, but unlike her mistress, this man was utterly ruthless and refused to be guilted by a dog, of all things.

In the end, the dejected puppy settled down, and with a soft, almost human sigh, curled up upon the Kazekage's lap. With the physical assurance that Sweetheart was unlikely to misbehave now, he let up his hold on her, and instead absently rubbed the small dog's surprisingly silky ears as a form of reward. The puppy's eyes drooped close with pleasure, and its white tufted tail started to wag lazily again.

The little nin-ken sighed once more—this time a content, almost silent expulsion of air.

She could almost get used to this type of pampering.

* * *

_::tsuzuku::_

* * *

**Questions That I Would Like To Answer Before You Ask:**

You guys are amazing! Thanks for the wonderful reviews, even though a good number of you have already read and critiqued this fic before. Please allow me to tell you that I'm utterly overwhelmed and grateful for all of your love and support; you lot are amazing!

To those who were still wondering why 'Sweetheart' was taken down by FF Net the first time around, it was because there was the 'bitch' word in the original summary, though I was referring legitimately to a female dog (and not the female human variety), but the administrators of FF Net still took it upon themselves to delete the fic all the same.

Let's hope that they will leave 'Sweetheart' alone this time around, yes?

**xXxXxXxXxX**

Old chapter notes:

That is one lucky puppy, huh? My beta thought that the notion of Gaara actually allowing Sweetheart to sleep on his lap was a tad…odd, but I have to explain that it was probably the only way for him to personally ensure that the puppy would not add to the pandemonium in the room.

**xXxXxXxXxX**

I'm not really sure if Gaara would be sensitive of his somewhat/slightly/a little vertically challenged stature, but I think it is a common knowledge to most that the Sabaku no Gaara really isn't very much into the tall, intimidating factor. Well, maybe intimidating, but certainly not tall, I'm afraid. I almost feel bad for making fun of his height (or lack thereof) in this chapter, but that should be alright. Sakura would love him all the same, eh?

**xXxXxXxXxX**

A reviewer had mention how it was unlikely for Sweetheart to even want to approach Gaara due to the Raccoon Dog Demon (aka Shukaku) sealed within him, which reminded me that I had forgotten to mention that in this fic, the Ichibi has already been extracted from Gaara by the Akatsuki, so it is unlikely that Sweetheart would be frightened by the bijuu's aura.

**xXxXxXxXxX**

Your reviews fuel my passion for writing. So please leave a comment if you like this fic, thank you.

-paws


	3. Chapter 3

**Title:** Sweetheart

**Author: **paws_bells

**Beta-ed by: **MelissaRose85

**Characters/Pairing: **Haruno Sakura and Sabaku no Gaara

**Type:** Continuous (InComplete)

**Genre:** Romance/Humor

**Word Count:** 4542

**Rating: **T (Contains content not suitable for children)

**Disclaimer:** Naruto belongs to Kishimoto-san.

**Summary: **REPOST. Canon-verse AU. Non-compliant with Fourth Shinobi War arc. Chi ama me, ama il mio cane. For Gaara and Sakura, that particular Italian proverb had never been more apt.

**Previous Summary:** Love was a bitch sometimes, though for Gaara and Sakura, it certainly started out that way. Literally.

**Chapter Last Revised on:** 24/03/13

* * *

**Chapter 3**

* * *

Sakura was very anxious to return home by the time her shift ended.

It was nearly ten in the evening by then, and the kunoichi had fretted over the wellbeing of her new puppy, wondering if Sweetheart was hungry by now, wondering if it was feeling lonely, wondering if it had somehow gotten itself hurt during the time that she had left it alone. Even as she told herself that she was being ridiculous for worrying, the fact that she was a first time dog owner and thus not very confident of her own abilities in rearing a pet did not help to soothe her concerns whatsoever.

Therefore, the very moment her double shift ended, the kunoichi had immediately hurried for home.

Even though common sense dictated that it was highly improbable that anything bad could have happened to her puppy, Sakura wanted to make absolutely sure all the same. Kakashi had handed over the responsibility of taking care of Sweetheart, and even though Sakura hadn't wanted it at first, the fact that she now had a tiny life depending entirely upon her made her feel most determined not to let it down. The fact that Sweetheart was slowly but surely growing on her smitten mistress was also a telling factor leading to Sakura's worry, and the anxious medic-nin wasted no time heading homewards, wondering to herself just what she would find when she reached her apartment.

She found Gaara, that's what.

The Godaime Kazekage was doing a very good job intimidating everyone who walked past her apartment building. Standing with his arms crossed impassively, the powerful redhead cut an imposing picture as he guarded the entrance of her apartment complex, almost as if he was there for the sole reason of inspecting everyone who walked into the building.

Sakura's hurried gait paused slightly when she saw him, and then, with a frown, she quickly walked towards the redhead.

"…Kazekage-sama?" she called out quizzically. "What are you—"

A most familiar tuft/head of white hair stirred on Gaara's right shoulder.

Sakura could only stare with growing chagrin as Sweetheart balanced herself precariously in a standing position, and then panted happily at her mistress, her tail wagging so hard that the kunoichi could only wince inwardly every time that whip-like appendage whacked across the back of the Kazekage's head with an audible 'thwack'. Really, the pink-haired female was somewhat surprised that her dog was still alive, and that Gaara was tolerating the nin-ken's embarrassing antics.

"Sweetheart!" Sakura recovered herself quickly and hissed awkwardly as she stepped towards Gaara to relieve him of the burden that was her mischievous dog. How the hell did she escape from her apartment?

And most importantly, why did she always have to end up with Gaara?

After all, once was an accident, and twice…definitely suspicious.

The kunoichi quickly reached over, leaning close to the redhead as she plucked her puppy off the man's shoulder. She didn't seem to notice the way Gaara had stiffened imperceptibly the moment she neared him, or if she did, she didn't seem to care. Then she took a step back, drew the dog up to face level, and frowned at the unrepentantly overjoyed dog.

Sakura was beginning to catch on to Sweetheart's modus operandi. She was always so earnest and joyful that it was hard to stay mad at her. Damn.

The kunoichi decided to quit while she was ahead, and she lifted her gaze to Gaara's instead.

"I'm sorry," she apologized sincerely. He was probably stressed and irritated after yet another long meeting with Konoha and Suna's councils, and now he even had to play the role of a puppy rescuer. "I swore that I had covered all the available exits before I left from home… Where did you find her?"

"Your dog managed to infiltrate the Hokage tower, sometime around noon."

Sakura's eyes widened in surprise. Then she peered down at her innocently happy pup. The Hokage tower was always heavily guarded by ANBU. How was it possible that her seemingly vapid and ditzy dog could manage to sneak in so easily? It also quickly occurred to her that Sweetheart had made her escape from home almost immediately after she herself had left.

The kunoichi twitched slightly. And her traitor of a pet hadn't even tried to look for her over at the hospital, instead choosing to run straight for Gaara!

"Just whose pet are you, anyway?" She mock scowled at the puppy, but couldn't seem to hold it for long. She shook her head slightly and looked at Gaara once again. "She didn't disrupt anything, did she?" Sakura asked cautiously.

Thankfully, he shook his head once. "She was considerably well-behaved." Gaara allowed in his usual monotonous delivery. He looked at her intently, and then he continued. "Perhaps you should seek help in training your nin-ken."

"…training?" Sakura echoed somewhat dubiously. "You mean, like obedience classes?"

He could only stare at her.

"No," he answered at last. "Your nin-ken has showed surprising abilities in tracking and infiltration, not to mention the utilization of certain ninjutsu pertaining only to animal summons, despite her unconventional appearance." He glossed over the last part smoothly. "With adequate training, she may very well be a sizeable asset to complement your own abilities during a mission or assignment."

Sakura had certainly never thought of using Sweetheart as an animal partner. First of all, Sweetheart was so small! Secondly, Kakashi had briefly mentioned that, whereas Pak-kun was an exceptionally talented nin-dog, her puppy's dame had been a perfectly normal, domesticated household pet. Her sensei had not expected for the tiny, timid dog to show any ability whatsoever, having tested and tried to have the other nin-ken in his pack guide the terrified pup but to no avail, and Sakura had been resigned and content to keep Sweetheart just for companionship.

But now that Gaara had pointed out the many hidden skills that were beginning to awake within her nin-pup, suddenly it wasn't that impossible an idea to train her little dog into her very own animal partner.

Hopefully, the training would be able to keep Sweetheart out of trouble.

Sakura nodded in agreement, slightly embarrassed that he had to suggest training her dog.

"Thanks. I had never thought of using Sweetheart as a nin-ken, but I suppose since she has the blood for it…might as well, huh?" She gave him a small smile, even as she stroked Sweetheart's silky ears. "I will ask if Kiba or Kakashi-sensei can provide me with some instructions."

He gave no visible response to that, but she could tell that he seemed to be rather satisfied with her reply.

They lapsed promptly into an awkward silence. At least, it was awkward on Sakura's side. Gaara seemed perfectly at ease with the conspicuous lack of verbal communication.

Then, Sakura sighed. She owed Gaara. Again.

Hefting her puppy in her arms, she looked somewhat amused—and resigned with her current situation.

"So, do you want to come in, or what?" She tilted her head slightly at him. "I'm making tempura udon tonight, and gyoza."

* * *

The next day, sometime during mid-noon, found Sakura by the nurse's station over at the recovery ward, poring through patient records whilst mingling idly to the various gossiping medic-nin lingering around her. For once, there weren't any emergency cases rushing in through the hospital doors, and so the various medical staff could all rest and take a brief breather.

Sakura listened vaguely to the chattering and exchange of various information with half an ear, completely at ease with her surroundings—

Then suddenly, the voices around her ceased abruptly.

Bewildered by the abrupt change in atmosphere, the kunoichi took her attention reluctantly from the file that she had been perusing, only to feel her eyes widen with surprise at the sight before her.

Apparently, the Godaime Kazekage had just breezed in, calm as you please, and was now standing not more than a meter away from the nurse's station.

"Kazekage-sama!" she greeted immediately. When he didn't look impressed by her address, she rolled her eyes slightly and tried again. "_Gaara_, what brings you here today?"

Her colleagues appeared stunned by her familiar address of the powerful Suna-nin.

Gaara ignored them.

"Your dog is at the Hokage Tower now."

He was toneless as ever, but somehow Sakura could sense that he was somewhat irked.

The kunoichi frowned in perplexity.

"That's impossible!" Sakura replied immediately. "I dropped her off myself at the Inuzuka kennels this morning. Hana-san promised that she would help evaluate Sweetheart's potential as a nin-ken."

The redhead merely crossed his arms against his chest.

"She is at the Hokage Tower now," he merely repeated.

Huh. That meant her slippery dog must have escaped again. Sakura should have known to expect something like that when she had seen the pup's betrayed expression when her mistress delivered her to the Inuzuka clan holdings. Slowly, the kunoichi put down the folder that she had in her hands, and resisted the urge to sigh.

She started to step out of the station and towards Gaara.

"I'm so sorry," she apologized to him, "I happen to be free now; let me go back with you to the Tower to retrieve my dog."

"That is not necessary," the Kazekage replied, "the dog will be taken care of."

Sakura could only stare expectantly at him, since he wasn't quite done yet. It took him awhile to spit out what he really wanted to say, though.

"…I fully expect a favor in return," he said at last, "when I return her tonight."

Sakura arched a brow, and then the light of understanding shone in her eyes. She nodded, much to the increasing bewilderment of their audience.

"Of course," the kunoichi agreed in a suspiciously bland manner. "That is only to be expected."

He did not seem to notice.

"The udon last night was adequate."

Sakura didn't even twitch at his careful tone. The fact that he was here, making dinner arrangements for tonight spoke more than anything derogatory that he could imply about her cooking. Besides, the pink-haired medic-nin was rather sure that he wasn't insulting her intentionally. The poor man looked like he didn't even know what to say.

Sakura took pity on him.

"Would you like that tonight as well?" she asked gently.

He looked at her, and then he nodded curtly.

She was trying very hard not to laugh, knowing very well that he was going to take it the wrong way if she did now.

"Anything else?" she probed.

He seemed to regain his icy composure, then, and promptly shattered it again with his next request.

"Some teriyaki liver would be preferable, if you can manage it."

By now, the small handful of medic-nin standing behind Sakura were positively _gaping _at this odd conversation that they were only too lucky to hear.

Sakura could no longer hold it in any longer. She smiled, not the least unsettled by his strange food preference.

"I will see what I can do." She paused, and then started again. "Thank you for looking after my dog."

He nodded brusquely, and then turned to leave.

"I will let Gaara know of your reply," he said, and before Sakura could wonder what he meant, the Kage Bunshin dispersed itself in a burst of chakra-enhanced smoke.

The kunoichi blinked. She had been talking to his Kage Bunshin the entire time. No wonder he sounded a little—quirky, though she should have guessed that he was probably up to his neck dealing with insistent councilmen and aides at this time of the day, not to mention that her embarrassing fangirl of a dog was nowhere with him.

She hadn't known that he liked liver, though. His fanclub would probably kill to have that kind of information.

"…What was that about?"

Her colleagues crowded around her immediately, wanting to know just what she had to do with the fearsome Godaime Kazekage.

"Oh," Sakura answered distractedly. "You heard him; Gaara was just looking after my dog."

They only stared at her casual reply.

"Gaara, as in the Kazekage, is looking after your _dog_?" one of the females muttered in pure disbelief. "_He's looking after your dog?_"

Sakura nodded, seeing nothing wrong with that.

"Well, it isn't as if he's doing it for free, you know," she retorted as she went back to the nurse station and picked up the folder that she had been perusing earlier. "As you can see, I am expected to feed him for his services."

The medic-nin exchanged glances among themselves. Did Sakura even know how many women would die to be in her position? The Kazekage's fan base extended all the way from Suna to Konoha!

"I didn't know you even had a dog," another med-nin stated curiously. "It must be like Tsume-san's Kuromaru, for the Kazekage-sama to be so interested."

To her surprise, Sakura snorted.

"Not really." The pink-haired female resumed flipping through the pages of the patient records. "My darling puppy is Pak-kun's daughter."

"…Pak-kun's daughter?"

"Pak-kun, as in Hatake-san's butt ugly pug?"

"You mean Pak-kun…"

Sakura shook her head at the gaggle of bewilderedly curious females.

"He got into a little accident with a Chinese Crested down at the bar across from the ANBU Headquarters. And trust me, that's all you want to know."

* * *

"Well, so what do you think?"

Sakura asked the quiet man sitting across her, as a content Sweetheart lay stretched out across her mistress' lap, dozing happily after an exciting day at work with the Kazekage.

Gaara finished the very last piece of liver with relish, well, with as great a sense of relish as his limited facial expression could manage it, at least. He chewed slowly, swallowed, and then put down his chopsticks to finally regard Sakura.

"They are good," he said at last, an exceptionally extravagant compliment in the difficult language of Gaara-ese.

Sakura sighed.

"I wasn't talking about the food," she muttered. From what she had seen this evening, apparently Gaara adored liver so much he would probably have eaten it raw if he had to. "I was talking about Sweetheart."

He really shouldn't be surprised.

The dog was all she could seem to talk about whenever he happened to be around. Of course, that might be partially due to the fact that the nin-pup seemed to have developed some sort of liking for him, though Gaara was beginning to feel genuinely irritated every time Sakura cooed over her damn puppy.

"What about her?" he sounded somewhat aggravated, though Sakura shrugged it away.

"For some reason or another, I think Sweetheart likes you," the kunoichi muttered. "And Hana-san confirmed that she is definitely nin-ken material, by the way."

The latter really wasn't any surprising news, since her odd looking puppy had actually managed to escape from a kennel full of born and bred nin-ken and remain undetected in the process.

"But the thing is that she keeps running off to you!" Sakura sounded chagrinned. Then she poked gently at the snoozing pup. "Do you like Gaara so much, my little love?" she asked the sleepy little dog. "Do you want to belong to Gaara instead of me, hunny-buns? I can give you to him, if you like, my darling, darling poochie-"

"Absolutely not," the redhead interrupted before she could shower more adoring endearments upon _the dog_. "I'm not keeping it."

Surprisingly enough, Sweetheart whined her protest too, nudging her hairless head against Sakura's tummy. The kunoichi scratched her dog's chin absently.

"What do I do with you, you silly little pup? You can't keep running off to the Kazekage, you know?"

Sweetheart's whip like tail started to wave.

Gaara stared at the pink-haired woman's bemused and charmed expression as she stared at her 'kawaii little dog.'

"If she appears in the Hokage Tower again, I will retain her temporarily until she can be returned to you."

Sakura's eyes lit up so quickly that he could only look at her.

"In other words, you will help me look after her?"

He hadn't really meant that exactly, though since she was looking so hopefully at him, it would have been churlish of him to deny it. Besides, she did feed him, after all…

"…I believe we can work something out," he answered at last, diplomatic as ever.

She only glanced askance at him, and before he could react, she started to laugh.

"I know what you want," she said, eventually recovering from her laughing fit. "Free dinner, in exchange?" she guessed.

He wasn't even embarrassed by her correct assumption, and only nodded.

"I think it's a fair trade," he allowed.

She burst into laughter again, and he was beginning to feel mildly insulted when she gradually stopped.

"Very well, Kazekage-sama." He realized then just how mesmerizing her emerald eyes were when she smiled. "You have got yourself a deal."

* * *

And so the next week continued in roughly the same manner.

Sakura would leave the house for work, threaten/plead/bribe/scold Sweetheart into remaining at home just for this one time despite the arrangement that she had made with Gaara, only for the little nin-dog to slip away almost immediately after she left the building. Then, the Chinese Crested/Pug mix would trot towards the Hokage tower in search of Gaara, and the pup would docilely accompany the powerful redhead for the rest of the day, curled up contentedly on his lap and dozing happily away, enjoying his delicious ear rubs while she was at it. The Hokage, her ANBU and all their combined counsels had already gotten used to the continuous appearance of the strange-looking little creature. Tsunade found it rather amusing that the fearsome Sabaku no Gaara appeared to have a soft spot for one of the ugliest dogs she had ever seen, and none of the elders had dared to protest that the animal had breached the tight security of the tower and should be tossed out or even killed, and besides, the redhead did seem to become a lot mellower and less likely to fly into a temper when that wretched beast was with him.

And so, Sweetheart earned her place within the conference room, and once the meeting for the day was over, the little dog would leave with Gaara, trotting happily at the heels of the detached redhead. He would then bring the pup back to Sakura's apartment, which would end with the chagrinned kunoichi apologizing for Sweetheart's behavior and feeding everyone, dog and Kazekage included.

It was quickly becoming routine, for Gaara to mooch meals off her, whereas Sakura tried her best to understand this ridiculously complex man. It was apparent to her that he was not as cold as he would like everyone to think; the way he had 'tolerated' Sweetheart's antics and daily appearances by his side had showed her that he might very well be hiding his true self under the imposing mantle of his Kazekage title, and so taking a rare page from Naruto's book, the pink-haired kunoichi tried her best to look 'underneath the underneath,' to see for herself just what sort of a person Gaara was.

It hadn't been an easy task, that was for sure. There were times when getting the esteemed Kazekage to talk was harder than pulling teeth, but Sakura clenched her jaw and persevered. This was the man her dog happened to be unhealthily obsessed with, after all, and besides, losing her temper was not going to help her get through to him.

The situation was improving though—but barely, and Sakura quickly chose to be optimistic about the entire business of getting to know the true Gaara.

Said man, on the other hand, found Sakura harder and harder to comprehend. He had half expected for her to grow frustrated each time he appeared at her door with her dog, and the resulting obligation—to feed him—but she never did. If anything, she was more than eager to prepare food for him, if only as a way to apologize for all the 'trouble' that Sweetheart had caused him.

It was really ironic that his advisors and aides were all extremely grateful towards the ugly puppy for its unique ability of calming down their Kazekage.

But back to the topic, it really wasn't the case that the Godaime Kazekage was an incorrigible miser who loved nothing more than cheap deals and free meals; it was more to the point of convenience—and to a small sense, novelty, for the powerful redhead. He could have easily procured himself a personal chef for his dining needs, but why do so when there was someone who was willing to cook for him? Sakura certainly wasn't being paid to do so, nor was she being instructed by her Hokage to serve their village's esteemed guest to the best of her abilities. No, the kunoichi was doing everything for him under the capacity of a friend, and Gaara appreciated it enough to start going over to Sakura's apartment every night.

It also helped that she was a genuinely good cook, and since she lived very near to the Hokage tower, it really was attractively convenient for him to head over to her residence right after late meetings, instead of wandering around the deserted streets of Konoha and trying to look among the mostly closed shops for an edible bite. Gaara found himself at ease with Sakura's unpretentious behavior; it was extremely reassuring to know that she didn't seem to possess any ulterior motives in befriending (and feeding) him, i.e. she wasn't mooning after him like a lovesick fool, nor was she slyly situating herself closer to him in the hopes of gaining any sort of political advantage. He had come across a surprising number of 'wolves in sheep's clothing' ever since he took over the responsibilities of Kazekage, and he had learnt to develop a discerning eye when it came to those types. The fact that Sakura was only trying to be a good friend quickly offset his natural inclination to be wary of those with 'good' intentions. With each subsequent visit to her house, he started to lower his guard more and more around her, this smiling pink-haired female who seemed to genuinely want to know about his day, and was willing to listen to what he had to say, little as that might be most of the time.

The redhead would be lying if he denied that he wasn't flattered by the kunoichi's good-natured attention. She was rather beautiful in an exotic manner, and her guileless behavior and open countenance made him understand why the blonde Jinchuuriki looked over her like a dear sister; she was almost like a female Naruto, not necessarily loud and vexingly obnoxious like the real version could be sometimes, but surprisingly understanding and…honest, if that was the correct word to describe the frank, unpretentious manner in which she always dealt with him.

Gaara really didn't know what to make of her, but whatever it was, she had succeeded in catching his attention where most had tried and failed, though she still appeared more or less oblivious to his increasing interest in her. Interest that appeared to be just too intense to be purely platonic, but seemingly nothing more than that either.

It was rather confusing, and while Gaara was muddling out the whole situation over in his head, the pink-haired female in question did not even seem to notice the dilemma that she had singlehandedly upended upon the quietly agitated Kazekage, nor did she seem aware of the way his unblinking jade gaze would affix itself to her, watching her with increasing scrutiny with each of his passing visit.

No, the kunoichi was apparently a lot more interested in her blasted dog than she was in him.

It should be quite understandable, really. After all, it was normal for an owner to become dearly attached to her beloved pet, and that was exactly what had happened. Besides, who else could Sakura pamper and coo at with such affection?

…

Gaara was certainly not proud of himself for resenting a helpless little puppy just for receiving her mistress' enthusiastic affection. It had started out like a small, niggling sense of irritation at first, but with each subsequent encounter with the kunoichi's soft glowing eyes and affectionate gaze as she watched over the antics of her dog, not to mention the way she all but heaped the most outlandish praises on the mischievous, wiggling puppy and how she would pet and stroke the blissful dog with gentle, sure hands, the redhead was beginning to feel more and more aggravated by the entirely domestic sight—something in which he was, somehow, completely left out of.

Of course, aggravating the Kazekage was something Sakura had certainly not planned on—at all. It had just become a habit of sorts, for her to play with Sweetheart whilst talking to Gaara and waiting for the redhead to consume his meal. She had certainly not expected for him to pay so much attention to her treatment towards her adorable little nin-ken, nor had she noticed his subtle regard, to be perfectly honest.

Truly, the kunoichi was easily just as oblivious as her blonde teammate outside of battle. It was no wonder that they saw themselves in each other, enough to regard one another as sworn siblings.

And then there was the dog.

The damn little puppy seemed to be rubbing its fortune in his face. A small, pink tongue lolling out almost as if it was laughing at him, large, bulging eyes gleaming with canine amusement, even the way her tail kept wagging enthusiastically with sheer joy as her mistress fussed lovingly over it made the redhead frown inwardly.

But yet, he still went to her house every night, his feet dutifully walking him to her doorstep with her dog in tow, always watching as the door opened and the way her brilliant emerald eyes would light up the very moment she glimpsed her little puppy, as she acknowledged him with a more reserved, yet friendly look only _after_ she had greeted and picked up the tiny nin-ken dancing around her legs with great enthusiasm and laughter.

She was certainly not one of those who would give him preferential treatment just because he happened to be the Godaime Kazekage. No, certainly not.

But Gaara, who had never wanted to be fussed over in the first place, could not help but feel mildly offended over the fact that he was evidently a lot less important than a homely looking, ill-behaved little puppy.

Absurd as it was, like it or not, the realization stung his male pride. It was becoming increasingly evident that she clearly did not see him as anything more than a platonic friend, and although Gaara really shouldn't be expecting anything else, he didn't like the current situation that he was stuck in, either.

The redhead wanted something more.

Just exactly what, he had no idea yet, but nonetheless he was going to get it all the same. After all, he had never been one to sit back and do nothing, especially when it happened to be a situation in which he disliked to be in.

Poor Sakura was in for a shock.

* * *

_::tsuzuku::_

* * *

**Questions That I Would Like To Answer Before You Ask:**

And here ends chapter three. The last chapter will be out this weekend, so do watch out for it.

**xXxXxXxXxX**

It's an official fact that Gaara's favorite food are gizzard and lizard tongue. However, I changed it to liver as I'm not really sure if canon Sakura could handle preparing such…exotic food fare. Besides, there's this jingle in my head that simply refuses to go away. Adding it to the little situation that is Gaara…

"I like chicken, I like liver, Meow Mix, Meow Mix, please deliver."

Very odd mental image here, not that I think Gaara is very cat-like, maybe just a little…

**xXxXxXxXxX**

Many apologies for making Gaara OOC this time around. I suppose 'Sweetheart' can be considered a crack-fic; having the Kazekage jealous of a little dog is probably as outrageous as things can ever get, but you will never know what the next chapter holds, can you?

**xXxXxXxXxX**

Your reviews fuel my passion for writing. So please leave a comment if you like this fic, thank you.

-paws


	4. Chapter 4

**Title:** Sweetheart

**Author: **paws_bells

**Beta-ed by: **MelissaRose85

**Characters/Pairing: **Haruno Sakura and Sabaku no Gaara

**Type:** Continuous (Complete)

**Genre:** Romance/Humor

**Word Count:** 4829

**Rating: **T (Contains content not suitable for children)

**Disclaimer:** Naruto belongs to Kishimoto-san.

**Summary: **REPOST. Canon-verse AU. Non-compliant with Fourth Shinobi War arc. Chi ama me, ama il mio cane. For Gaara and Sakura, that particular Italian proverb had never been more apt.

**Previous Summary:** Love was a bitch sometimes, though for Gaara and Sakura, it certainly started out that way. Literally.

**Completion on:** 19/07/08

**Chapter Last Revised on:** 15/04/13

* * *

**Chapter 4**

* * *

True enough, when Gaara finally, politely, worded his request to her, the kunoichi damn near froze over in stunned surprise.

She could only gawk at the powerful redhead as he remained on his seat by the kotatsu, calm as you please.

"_I'm sorry?!_" the pink-haired medic-nin yelped in disbelief, her voice pitched a tad higher than usual due to her astonishment. Had he just asked her to—

His gaze was as composed as ever, almost as if he asked the most outrageous of requests from people all the time. Judging by his imposing status, it wouldn't be that big a surprise if he actually did that, and as Sakura's frazzled mind began to veer off tangent, he very placidly repeated his request again, almost as if he thought that she was hard of hearing and needed to hear his expectations twice.

"I want you to touch me."

Good god, he wasn't joking.

Sakura's mind went blank for a brief moment, and then she quickly recovered from her dazed shock.

It was quickly replaced by indignation. What did he mean by 'touch' him? Was he trying to imply something? Was he a pervert after all? Good grief! She should have known that he was just like most men, always thinking with their other head—

Well, actually, Gaara wasn't being a pervert like Sakura thought he was. The man was just as blunt as they come, possessing no tact or subtlety whatsoever when it came to personal matters—one could almost say that he was completely defective when it came to the subject of being sensitive. After all, when he wanted something, he would go straight to the point and get it. Once upon a time, with the backing of Shukaku, no one would dare say no to him, and he usually got what he wanted. Now, even without Shukaku, he was still a damn scary son of a bitch and a tough, bullheaded Kazekage to boot, and so he still pretty much got what he wanted. Not much of a difference there, and although Gaara currently had no idea what he was going to do once he had Sakura's attention, he was just as determined to get it all the same.

He could always worry about what to do later.

And he figured that the easiest way to achieve his means was to have her notice him physically.

While the kunoichi was still shocked by his casual remark, his sand went into action. Tendrils of the tensile, versatile limestone material crept out from the gourd sitting innocently by the corner, and Sweetheart, who had been lying blissfully on her owner's lap, didn't even have the time to issue a yelp of protest when a thin finger of sand wrapped itself around her middle and lifted her away from Sakura. Then, another larger portion of sand curled itself gently around Sakura's waist and began to tug the astounded female towards Gaara.

The kunoichi finally began to react when she neared him, her form stiffening and obviously becoming more and more agitated, when it finally occurred to her stunned self that he was manhandling, or rather, sandhandling her as if she was a puppet.

However, her rising ire turned quickly into a huge dose of bewilderment when the Kazekage placed her carefully beside him, and then, proceeded to casually lower himself before her.

Her confused emerald gaze widened in shock when he actually laid his head on her lap. She froze, not entirely sure of what was going on. Had someone henge into him to infiltrate her house? There was simply no way that the Sabaku no Gaara was behaving thusly with her right now.

But he was.

The sand nudged her into action, moving her right hand until it rested among his dusty red hair. He stared straight up at her expectantly, looking as if he was perfectly comfortable with lying on her thighs like he was doing now.

Well, she certainly wasn't feeling half as relaxed as he was. In fact, she was feeling downright awkward.

His charcoal-rimmed jade eyes gazed compellingly into her baffled ones.

"Touch me," he repeated his request softly, calmly.

There was something about the way he spoke that made her turn progressively pink in a mixture of embarrassment and shyness. Then, she gave herself a mental smack for thinking such thoughts, and she quickly decided, professionally, that all Gaara wanted was a massage from her. Yes, a massage. She was a qualified medic-nin after all, and he was highly stressed from his Kazekage duties as well as from the ridiculous expectations of his council and that of Konoha's. She could do this.

But first…

"Put down Sweetheart," she commanded. Her poor, wriggling puppy was still being suspended in the air by his sand, and when he finally let her dog down, she began to fulfill her end of the bargain.

Hesitantly at first, she ran her fingers lightly through his hair. The crimson texture was surprisingly soft, and intrigued, the kunoichi continued her gentle ministration on his scalp, using her fingers to rub lazy circles around his temples, firmly but slowly pressing the tips of her fingers down the length of his hairline and behind his ears. Her movements were unhurried and pronounced, so as not to startle him, and eventually, she was surprised to see him close his eyes and actually relax completely into her touch, a small hum of contentment escaping his throat.

Emboldened by her success, she did not let up her hold on him. Scratching his scalp lightly, she continued to rub and caress his hair, moving occasionally to the base of his head, working to loosen the tight knots at the back of his neck in as comforting a manner as she could manage. The resulting rumble that came from his chest startled her so much that she nearly stopped what she was doing.

This was almost unbelievable; she had the Godaime Kazekage draped across her lap and purring like a large, lazy cat. If he had a tail, it would have been twitching back and forth in a languorous, feline-like manner.

Part of Sakura really did not understand how she had come to be in this position. Not that she absolutely detested being so near Gaara, but the fact that he was behaving in such a manner around her made her feel…odd.

It was the same feeling that had been steadily accumulating ever since she had started to make him dinner, and now, it was only emphasized thanks to his proximity.

Sakura didn't know what to make of this sense of growing...affection towards the Kazekage.

Then, taking advantage of the current lull and distracted air around the two humans, Sweetheart slunk over as discreetly as she could, trying to quietly compete for her owner's attention.

As much as she liked Gaara, the line between adoration and displeasure ended between the beautiful pink-haired kunoichi known as Sakura. Sweetheart wasn't too keen on watching the redhead monopolize her mistress' attention, and not surprisingly, Gaara wasn't all too keen on sharing said mistress either.

Had he known that she was this talented with her hands, he would have insisted that she attend to him from the very beginning. He had been feeling so very tense for as long as he could remember, but the way her fingers moved over his skin were enough to relax him and make him languidly sleepy instead, a state of mind that was so very rare for him.

It was rather apparent that Gaara would most definitely object to her attention being put anywhere else but solely on him. At least for the moment…and maybe even more.

The little puppy could only give a small whine before jade eyes cracked open and gave Sweetheart an unblinking stare. His eyes were imperceptibly narrowed, and the little nin-ken had been on the receiving end of that particular stare often enough to know what it meant. Her tail drooped, and so did those huge bat-like ears of hers. With a tiny sigh, the animal could only settle down reluctantly beside her mistress and put her head on her paws in canine dismay.

This had better not be the norm from now on.

* * *

Unfortunately for Sweetheart, that had been only the beginning.

Not unlike every evening, the esteemed Kazekage would arrive at her mistress's doorstep right after fulfilling his duties with the village council, Sweetheart trotting quickly at his heels as the redhead moved with purpose towards Sakura's apartment. Then, to the little dog's distress, her frazzled owner would open the door, scoop her up and give her a distracted hug, before giving her entire attention to the man whom she had come with.

Sweetheart really did not like where this situation was heading.

Not that Sakura was neglecting her, per se; the pink-haired female still fed and played with her precocious nin-ken, but Sweetheart would rather have her mistress's undivided attention than share it with someone else. Namely, the Sabaku no Gaara, the fearsome Godaime Kazekage.

Unfortunately for the little dog, the powerful redhead did not seem to care one way or another what Sweetheart felt.

According to Gaara, the fact that he was willing to tolerate and occasionally indulge the pup's antics during his time in the office was already considered a concession in itself. He simply had no intention of fighting a dog for Sakura's attention during the short couple of hours that he had with her, especially since it was known to him that said dog was fortunate enough to sleep on the same bed with the kunoichi every night.

Unfortunately, the plucky little animal was unwilling to submit to the cantankerous Kazekage gracefully, and since wringing the neck of the dog would most definitely upset Sakura, Gaara had taken to distracting the pampered pooch by entertaining it with his sand, with 'entertain' being a relative word. But it was certainly an effective puppy-deterrence. Poor Sweetheart was often kept too preoccupied evading the quick tendrils of sand trying to capture her that she hardly had the time to try to attract attention to herself, which suited Gaara's purposes just fine, much to Sakura's disbelieving exasperation.

The kunoichi certainly wasn't sure what had happened to her life lately, just as she wasn't exactly quite sure how on earth she had somehow become the personal chef and masseuse of the Godaime Kazekage. It was as if one thing led naturally to another, and before she knew it, Gaara was invading her home, invading her dining table, invading her…lap.

The kunoichi knew that she should put up some sort of token resistance to the way the redhead was so slowly but surely taking up her time, living space, and attention, but she had never been one to indulge in denial, at least not too much of it. Besides, it was rather hard to remain unaffected and distant when the man in question happened to be lying across her thighs, his normally tense and guarded form openly relaxed in a show of trust in her.

Sakura really did not know what to make of her current situation with Gaara; she was certain that they were friends, but the way he behaved sometimes seemed to hint that there might be more to their simple relationship than she thought, and that clearly confused her. Damn his ambiguous behaviors! How was she supposed to react to him if he was sending out mixed signals all the damn time?

That very thought made Sakura twitch with displeasure, and the redhead in question grunted in reaction. His eyes opened, looking up at her disgruntled gaze.

"You are yanking on my hair, Sakura."

Sakura frowned at his placid tone, but she did stop agitatedly pulling at his dusty red hair. In fact, she ceased her soothing ministrations altogether, much to the Sand-nin's inward displeasure.

Emerald stared hard into charcoal-rimmed jade.

"You do know that what I'm doing now goes well beyond the boundaries of friendship, right?" she asked at last. For that past week or so, the pink-haired female had been feeding and dispensing massage services to the esteemed Kazekage, all done without even a peep of complaint. It made her wonder if he was aware of all the time and effort that she was investing in him.

The redhead in question looked unblinkingly at her, wondering what she was trying to get at. The fact that he appeared totally clueless as to what she was talking about made her sigh out loud. She narrowed her eyes slightly and then removed her hands completely from his scalp.

"For example," she stared irritably down at him, "do you think that Naruto is going to willingly do this for you?"

The kunoichi gestured around her. "Well yes, Naruto would probably feed you, but _this_?"

The redhead continued to eye the agitated woman oddly. Why was she asking such a ridiculous question? Why on earth would he want Naruto when he could have her?

"I don't think that Naruto has the skills to be a masseuse," he commented at last, deciding to humor the somewhat irritated kunoichi.

Sakura twitched.

"That was not what I meant!" she nearly yelled down at him. Then the frazzled female quickly made herself calm down. He was so…impossible! "What I'm trying to say is; what if I decided to uh…massage someone else instead?"

Gaara did not take the news well.

He frowned.

"Who?"

His voice was flat, and Sakura was taken aback by the irritation in his tone.

"Who is- what? I was just stating an example," she told him quickly, growing irritated herself. Was he trying to make her stupid?

Unfortunately, it was as if he suffered from selective hearing.

"If you are talking about Naruto-"

"It's not Naruto!" she cut him off before he could start. "Naruto is already with Hinata-chan-"

This time it was he who interrupted her.

"Then who is he?"

Sakura actually growled.

"For the last time, there is no 'he!'" she threw her hands up in frustration. "At least not yet! What I'm trying to say is if I have someone I like-"

"Do you?" he pressed on relentlessly.

Sakura faltered.

"Well, not at the moment-"

Gaara looked at the beautiful pink-haired female.

"Then I see no point in this conversation."

Sakura scowled at the completely dense Kazekage.

"Do you have any idea what we were talking about at all?" she asked at last.

To her surprise, he nodded.

"You asked if I was aware of how your treatment towards me so far may be perceived as overly friendly, as well as how I should react in the face of an imaginary love interest."

Sakura gasped at that, completely affronted by his brusque wording.

"I do not have imaginary love interests!" the kunoichi protested immediately. Gaara merely looked at her, calm and completely unaffected by her embarrassment, and she huffed.

"I was just stating an example," she grumbled.

The redhead gave the annoyed female a quick, accessing look.

"What do you think I would do?" he asked her.

She looked at him with slight bemusement. Then she snorted lightly.

"I don't think you'd even notice, to be honest," she admitted at last, "You are returning to Suna very soon, anyway."

Sakura shook her head inwardly, trying her best to push away the twinge of distress that quickly formed in the vicinity of her chest at the mention of his departure. Of course he would leave soon; he was the Kazekage and he needed to return to Sand to watch over his beloved village, and then life would go back to normal and there would be no more redheads knocking on her door in the middle of the night, returning her silly little puppy and asking to be fed and massaged.

Sakura stiffened, but again she forcibly quelled her upset, her features clearing to form one of exaggerated nonchalance.

"It doesn't matter," Sakura muttered, almost as if trying to convince herself. "Sweetheart will probably find someone else to pester after you are gone, and I should probably get to know more people, right, my little Sweetheart?"

The puppy in question was currently flopped down on the floor across the room, completely exhausted from evading the tendrils of sand that kept her away from her mistress. The dog merely heaved a loud doggy sigh, but Sakura quickly took that as an agreement. After all, Sweetheart had easily become _the_ 'ice breaker' in most of Sakura's dealings with other people. Young or old, no one failed not to notice the ragged, homely-looking little dog, and the fact that both canine and owner were cheerful and sweet-tempered had won over more than a few citizens of Konoha. Suddenly, everyone around her neighborhood was aware of her new puppy; little children loved to play with Sweetheart, whereas the adults and even some nin would find themselves entertained by the nin-pup's unique appearance and hilarious antics.

The bottom line was that having a dog sure was great for improving one's social life. Sakura doubted that she had spoken to as many neighbors when she had just moved into her apartment as compared to now, after she had received Sweetheart. It seemed that not a lot of people could resist the charms of 'the kawaii little puppy', and all the positive attention that Sweetheart was happily soaking up like a sponge was also making her a more confident and well-adjusted animal.

All in all, everyone was happy, and Sakura was equally determined to remain that way.

That was not the case for a certain redhead, unfortunately.

Almost as if he finally realized what was going on in that head of hers, the Godaime Kazekage frowned.

"Are you implying that you would invite anyone into your house, feed them and stroke them like you did myself?" he asked slowly.

She flushed immediately.

"It's called a _massage_, Gaara," she answered snappily. "I don't 'stroke' you, for god's sake. You are not a dog."

Then she prodded at his shoulder insistently, wordlessly asking him to free her from his weight. "And speaking of massages, yours is over for the day. Get up."

He obliged her rude request, sitting up beside her only to stare unblinkingly at her.

"You haven't answered my question, Sakura." He was insistent.

She frowned, entirely irritated.

"And if I did?" she challenged. "What is it to you, anyway?"

She stood up and began to pace with agitation. He watched her with calm scrutiny.

At last, Sakura paused from her troubling thoughts to look at him. The darned man had the gall to look quizzically curious, almost as if he had no idea what to make of her reaction.

The fact that he didn't understand at all made the kunoichi stiffen with unhappiness.

"Look, it's getting late." She looked away from him. "Maybe you should leave now-"

She really expected for him to disappear from her apartment in a shower of sand, but that was not the case.

"No." His reply surprised her. She turned quickly to him, just in time to see him rise smoothly to his feet as well. His jade gaze was leveled on hers. "I want to know why you are so upset."

The quiet, emphatic manner in which he spoke was certainly nowhere near comforting or concerned in terms of tone, but the way he appeared genuinely interested in wanting to alleviate her unhappiness earned him some brownie points in her regard, and she sighed.

There was no choice but to tell this oblivious man everything. It would be the point of no return, but what the hell, it was not like he was going to stay in Konoha forever. Who knows, her confession might very well scare him into never stepping foot within Leaf again. Sakura was grimly humored by the thought.

She heaved another aggrieved sigh. Why did things like this always happen to her? Why did she always have to be attracted to the emotionally unstable, outwardly normal but inwardly insane types?

She looked at him flatly.

"I think I like you, Gaara."

There was a long silence following her firm declaration.

Then, he blinked.

"I know," he said at last, and it was so anticlimactic that she stare blankly back at him.

_He knew?! _

Unperturbed, he continued to speak. "I like you too, Sakura," he intoned calmly. "You are Naruto's teammate and the Hokage's student. You have saved my brother's life before and we owe you a-"

Before he could monotonously recite her entire life's accomplishments as well as all the inane and completely _wrong_ reasons why he should like her platonically, Sakura threw her hands up in dismay.

"For the love of—that was not what I meant!" she cut him off brusquely. "That was not the type of 'like' I was referring to!"

Before he could ask just what she was referring to, she strode up edgily to him and stopped only when they were only an inch apart.

Wary jade gaze met fierce emerald.

"This," she whispered, "was what I meant."

She put her hands on his shoulders, leant up towards him, and kissed him for all she was worth.

Pressing herself close to his surprised—and stiffened—form, Sakura closed her eyes and went with her feelings, moving her lips almost shyly against his unmoving ones, and when he did not react, she took a calculated risk and drew his bottom lip carefully into her mouth, sucking and licking at his flesh gently, hoping to incite a reaction from him.

But he moved not a muscle _at all_, and after awhile, hurt disappointment and failure inundated her.

He clearly did not share her feelings.

The kunoichi kept her eyes firmly closed as she started to pull away from him—this was going to be awkward as hell—

Then, as if he sensed her imminent withdrawal, his hands came up so quickly that she was stunned, his arms wrapping firmly around her shoulders, pulling her completely against him as he started to return her kisses, not allowing her to disengage from him and being completely demanding as usual.

Sakura's hands fisted unconsciously into his clothes as she leaned fully against him, and he was more than willing to support her weight, kissing her hard and fervently with a sense of increasing need that stunned her.

It took awhile, but the kunoichi had to muster up all her willpower and energy to pull away from him, and when she opened her eyes to look at him, his own gaze was dark as he stared back openly—and slightly feral.

She swallowed nervously, not entirely sure now how to proceed. She had certainly not thought that far when she had decided, impulsively, to kiss him.

Then it finally hit her, that she had just boldly assaulted the Kazekage's person—without his permission.

This was disastrous, and besides, she really had no idea what to do with him after this. What the hell did she want?

She certainly had no idea.

"Gaara," she started nervously as her hands loosened their hold on him and dropped to her side, "I'm sorry; I don't know what I was thinking. Let's just forget about-"

"No," he interrupted her before she could ramble some more, his eyes narrowing slightly with abject irritation. "Let's not."

She stared at him.

"But-"

"This…liking you have for me," he drowned out her protest and asked slowly and deliberately, his steady gaze fixed completely on hers in a display of keen interest, "Does it extend to anyone else?"

She frowned.

"Of course not," she muttered immediately, insulted. What did he take her for? A flighty, bubble-brained little girl?

His eyes gleamed.

"In that case, does that mean I have special rights to your person?" he asked bluntly.

She turned red.

"Special rights?" she sputtered, "What are you talking about?"

He was not one to beat around the bush.

"Since I'm evidently your love interest-" A mildly indignant Sakura blushed harder if possible. "I'm entitled to certain…demands," he reasoned.

She regained enough composure to frown at him.

"What demands?" she asked, starting to get irritated again. What on earth was going on in that mind of his?

He merely met her gaze straight on, and stated what he wanted. "I will not share you," he announced immediately. "That means you will not be allowed to entertain any random men in the privacy of your house…ever."

She could only gape at him, and marvel over how he was suddenly in control of the entire situation again. Before she could protest that she had only planted a kiss on him and hadn't really considered the ramifications of getting in a relationship with the Kazekage of Suna, he was already happily listing all his demands of her.

Oh yes, Gaara was certainly pleased as a clam right now. The kunoichi had all but wrapped herself up in a nice little gift box and presented herself to him, and who was he to turn her away?

"That means no feeding and massaging any man, and no allowing any male to enter your house—no matter who the dog brings home." His eyes were filled with masculine satisfaction now, irritating smugness that made her regain control of her shocked self.

What the hell had just happened? Wasn't he supposed to be the reluctant, oblivious Kazekage earlier?

It didn't take long for Sakura to realize that she had just been tricked.

She drew back slightly from the powerful redhead and scowled suspiciously at him.

"…this is about the massages, right? You are doing this so that you can keep all my massages to yourself, right?" Before he could reply, she shook her head. "There is no need to go to such extent if you feel threatened. Any medic-nin can do the relaxing exercises that I have been doing for you-"

"It will not be the same." He cut her off simply, instinctively aware that he was correct and he would definitely not experience the same sensation of peace and relaxation under the hands of anyone but her. He was also quite certain that he didn't want anybody else touching him, too, and so she would have to be the only one he wanted.

"I will not. Share. You," he repeated once more.

She scowled harder at him, not too pleased with how pushy he had suddenly become. Where was that mild-mannered, polite Kazekage who had stepped into her life a couple of weeks ago?

Oh right, he was just her imagination.

"I'm beginning to have second thoughts about my love interest," she muttered.

He did not look amused.

"That's tragic," he retorted rather placidly, all things considered. "But I'm sure you will survive admirably."

Sakura snorted to herself.

"I can't believe I'm about to get involved with a man who's only interested in my skills as a masseuse."

It was so unbelievable that she started to giggle.

He didn't disagree with her.

"It could have been worse," he reminded her instead. "You could have been stuck with your Uchiha teammate instead of myself."

Sakura was hard pressed not to roll her eyes. "I'm sure that too would have turned out a lot differently," she muttered sarcastically.

The Kazekage didn't seem to notice her retort.

"And I do not value you only for your skills as a masseuse," he commented mildly, almost as an afterthought.

She arched a brow at him. "Is that right?" she asked exasperatedly. "Then what else do you 'value' me for?"

"…Naruto was right. You are an excellent cook."

He sounded bemused as he made the statement, though Sakura was understandably a lot less thrilled.

"And you want me just because of my cooking?" she sounded incredulous. "Let me guess; it's the liver again, isn't it, Kazekage-sama?"

Sure enough, he was not denying it.

"That is partially so," he allowed stoically, and Sakura really did roll her eyes this time around. "But I may have found something else that is of great interest to me."

"Yes, of course." Sakura did not seem to catch his drift. She started to glance up at him. "And what is…that?"

She faltered when she finally looked into his eyes, the gorgeous jade depths darkened and dilated as he stared at her, and it was enough to make her heart skip more than a few beats. Who knew that he could look so…

_Intense_.

She stilled completely, and he leaned closer towards her, brushing his lips slowly against hers. She let out a shaky breath.

"This."

He kissed her.

Sakura really didn't stand much of a chance after that, and the rest, as they say, was history.

* * *

Poor Sweetheart could only watch from her doggy cushion as her mistress became reluctantly charmed by the redheaded man.

Again.

The nin-ken sighed once more.

The man had won, damn it.

And something told the little dog that he was probably going to be sticking around for quite a long time to come.

...

Sweetheart really hated men.

* * *

_::owari::_

* * *

**Questions That I Would Like To Answer Before You Ask:**

And that's the end for 'Sweetheart'. Hoped you people enjoyed this short ride, I certainly enjoyed writing it. There will be no continuation for this, and even if there was, it may very well be just a short and sweet little one shot, or something like that.

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My apologies for the slight delay of the repost of this last chapter. Rocky, my beloved pooch, passed away on Friday evening after a long, hard struggle with his failing health, and even right now, I'm still terribly upset by his passing. He was a really good dog and I like to imagine that he has gone to a good place now, free from the pains and sufferings of old age that he has had during his last moments.

In essence, I'd like to dedicate this fic to my real life 'Sweetheart;' to my dear, silly, sixty pound lapdog of a Doberman, who was the sweetest pup and who had loved me with every beat of his huge canine heart. I had adored you at first sight too, Rocky.

You will never be forgotten.

**xXxXxXxXxX**

Once again, many, _many_ thanks for all the wonderful support from the loving readers! Your reviews make me feel happy and loved, and I'm grateful for all your feedback!

**xXxXxXxXxX**

Your reviews fuel my passion for writing. So please leave a comment if you like this fic, thank you.

-paws


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